A Triumphant Flower
by The Cat Whispurrer
Summary: Take's place in ancient Edo and focuses mainly on Okou of the Oedo Chakichaki Musume; full summary inside. Rated T for violence, adult situations, and brief nudity, though nothing described. Contains original characters  COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**This story takes place back in ancient Edo (what Tokyo was once known as) times and will primarily focus on Okou of the Oedo Chakichaki Musume (in the English-dubbing: The Goodenough Girls) and her plight after the defeat of Kare. (Him) This is the improved version of chapter 1.**

**Characters:**

**Okou Matsubara **–The green member of the Oedo Chakichaki Musume and Kaoru's ancestor.

**Momo Akatsutsumi** – The red member of the Oedo Chakichaki Musume and Momoko's ancestor.

**Omiya Gotokuji** – The blue member of the Oedo Chakichaki Musume and Miyako's ancestor.

**Hiraga Kennai** – The man who created Kennainium He (later referred to as Chemical Z) and the one who turned three ordinary girls into the Oedo Chakichaki Musume.

***Note: The following are all Original Characters with some based on real characters***

**Shogun Mayer** – The head of the Edo village in which this story occurs and Mayor Mayer's ancestor.

**Bellum-san **– Shogun Mayer's aid and ancestor to Ms. Bellum (like you couldn't figure this one out for yourselves)

**Rikiya Udetsuyoi **– Samurai warrior who fights with a zanbato and buster sword and Luke's ancestor. (see all of my other fanfiction stories for reference)

**Eri Ayukai** – Samurai warrior who fights with the bow and arrow and Takaaki's ancestor.

**Takeshi Mizatama **– Samurai who fights with twin long swords and Butch's ancestor.

**Takeo Mizatama** – Samurai who fights with the crossbow and Brick's ancestor

**Hyosuke Mizatama** – Samurai who fights with a katana and Boomer's ancestor.

**Karin Shiimasutou** – The pink member of the Oedo Chakichaki Musume and Kaarii's ancestor (See mine and cakedecorator's [a.k.a. Carly-chan to me and just Carly to all others] for reference) *NOTE: This character was created by agreement with Carly*

**Atsushi Bokenka** – Samurai who fights with a halberd and Josh's ancestor (again see mine and Super Bash's stories for reference)

**Bibliography:**

(I'll bet none of you expected to see one of these! These are the books I'm using for writing this story and that I believe may come in handy for those would also wish to write a story for the Edo period.)

**Everyday Life in Traditional Japan** by Charles J. Dun

**Culture Smart! Japan** by Paul Norbury

**Code of the Samurai** by Thomas Cleary

**Wikipedia** for subjects Powerpuff Girls Z and Japanese Honorifics

And any **Japanese-English English-Japanese Dictionary **(for those who would wish to use real Japanese words and know what they mean)

**And now for our story to begin…**

**A Triumphant Flower**

**Chapter 1**

They'd been hailed as the heroines of Edo shortly after they had defeated the monster Kare, but the Oedo Chakichaki Musume were three young teenage girls who were still living with their simple families while maintaining a friendship with Professor Kennai Hiraga, the man who created Kennainium He and doused the girls with it to turn them into their super heroine forms.

Momo Akatsutsumi lived with her parents and younger sister Kuri in a modest little cottage just to the north of their village.

Omiya Gotokuji lived in a slightly larger home with her parents and grandmother, Kiyo to the east of the village.

Okou Matsubara lived with her parents and two siblings, both boys, one older and one younger, in a two story home. Okou had a bedroom on the upper floor and furthest down the hall. Her younger brother slept in the room closest to the stairs and her eldest brother slept in the room between them.

Their parents slept on the first floor, on just the other side of the main room with the main room on the front right hand side and the daidokoro on the left; the oteari was located just under the stairs to the upper floor and the furoba was just on the other side of the daidokoro wall.

In the main room were the Buddhist shrine, which featured pictures of lost family members, and the Shinto shrine, which held pictures of living family members. There was also the small tokonoma alcove featuring a hanging picture-scroll and ikebana flower arrangement carefully situated on the floor.

Though as one of the two women-folk in the house, Okou was expected to be up early so as to help with the chores, but was instead a late sleeper. Her eldest brother, however, was the early riser and had a strange fascination with the sky; watching the stars at night, the clouds during the day, and lightning during thunderstorms. However, this fascination would also one day prove the family's downfall.

One evening while journeying home from the market, Dai spotted a black cat across the street from them and paused to pick up and pitch a stone at the animal.

"Hey, are you nuts or something? That's Arashi-ue, Kami of the Weather, and if you anger him he could bring about a storm to destroy our home" Okou shouted at her brother, stopping him from throwing another stone at the feline.

"That's just some ridiculous superstition, Okou(***)**, and you should remember your place" Dai said firmly to his sister and just stopped himself from slapping her for her interference; knowing full well that if he struck her, he couldn't have the lustful pleasure of watching his sister stripped bare and beaten with their father's leather strap.

Okou had the common sense to turn her face away from her brother and he continued on his way home, leaving her to stand there alone and watching him walk away. Suddenly Okou felt something rubbing against her leg and glanced down to see Arashi rubbing up on her and purring quite loudly.

"Arigato for your blessing, Arashi-ue; I only hope it's enough to keep me from getting father's strap across my o-shiri" Okou said to the cat as she began to follow after her brother, not noticing the way the cat was now staring at the sky.

As Okou reached the gateway to her home, she looked up to notice dark clouds moving in and knew that a storm was approaching and silently prayed that it was only to be a mild rain storm and not Arashi's fury against her brother's behavior.

Rarely the receiver of her father's anger, Okou knew she was walking on thin ice when she entered her home to the glares from the men in her family.

"Okou, I want you to know that this pains me almost as much as it does you" her father informed her as he took a hold of her arm but stopped when he noticed the long, black hairs on her white stockings. "You have received Arashi's blessing; go take your bath and then go to your room. You may escape your punishment this time, but you may not eat with us."

Okou bowed her head in abashment and headed for the furoba where she stripped off her clothes and began to scrub up. From there she climbed the stairs and entered her room where she dropped her towel and slid into her sleeping kimono before pulling out her futon mattress, blanket, and pillow to sleep on the floor.

Later that evening, Dai set up a couple of kites, with metal rods tied to them, and tied them to the roof of the house, without noticing Arashi watching him intently from Okou's outer bedroom windowsill.

It was a rainy, stormy morning the next day when Okou's mother entered her room and began to gently shake her awake, "Come on now, honey, it's time to get up."

"Hmm, not now mama, 'm sleepy" Okou groaned and rolled over to go back to sleep.

"You promised to help your friends at Professor Kennai's shop today and they'll be expecting you soon; now get up" Mitsu told her only daughter who simply ignored her as she pulled the blanket up around her tighter. "I hate to do this, but since you leave me no choice…" she then put her ice cold hands inside Okou's kimono and against the girl's bare skin.

"Yow! What was that for?" demanded Okou of her mother as she shot straight up and out of her bed, rubbing the area where her mother had touched her.

"Sumimasen, but my hands were cold and I needed something to warm them up on" Mitsu explained with a smile. "Now get up, you need to eat your breakfast before heading off to Professor Kennai's."

Begrudgingly, Okou acquiesced with her mother's order and climbed out of bed to begin getting dressed while grousing, "One of the Oedo Chakichaki Musume and I still have to listen to my mother like I'm a four year old."

"Ohayo gozaimasu, Okou-chan" Okou's father greeted her as he leaned over to kiss her on the cheek; one of the few men she would allow to do such a thing.

"Ohayo, dad; aren't you supposed to be heading over to the sumo arena today?" Okou inquired of her hefty father; pleased to see that he was in good spirits that morning.

"I was, but not with the way it's raining; they'll probably postpone it" the man replied with a disappointed sigh.

Finishing her breakfast, Okou bid farewell to her family and ran off for Professor Kennai's shop to help clean the place up; pausing to notice the kites flying from her brother's window and muttering, "I hope the baka doesn't endanger our home with those stupid kites."

"Ohayo, Okou" Momo and Omiya greeted their friend with warm smiles as she entered the lab.

Before Okou could return the greeting, there was a blast of lightning and a tremendous crash of thunder from the storm overhead that caused her to jump from fright and spin around quickly to observe the weather taking a turn for the worse.

"Ohayo, I think" Okou replied, sending the storm a quick dirty look before picking up a broom to begin sweeping the floor.

The girls began diligently helping Professor Kennai-san with tidying up his chemistry lab when one of Okou's neighbors burst through the door shouting, "There's a major house fire down in the southern part of town; I think it's you place, Okou!"

Sending surprised and concerned looks to Okou as they heard the bell of the watchtower being sounded, the three girls took off running for Okou's home, skidding to a momentary pause as they took in what was going on. The boy had been right; the place was completely engulfed by flames!

There were many men dressed in protective leather with leather-covered helmets using hooks to pull down some of the burning roof sections while a few more with a water pump were spraying the house down, but to no avail.

"Iie…IIE!" shouted Okou as she took off running again, not seeing any signs of her family anywhere and panic overwhelming her.

"Hold that girl back!" called out one of the firemen as he saw Okou running up to the house as though to enter it.

"Hold on;" "Hold up;" "Sumimasen, Okou-chan, but there's nothing we can do" stated three firemen as they grabbed hold of the young girl and stopped her within ten feet of the flame-engulfed house.

"Iie, please, iie…you can't let them die" Okou pleaded as she still put up a desperate struggle to try to save her family.

"Sumimasen, but they're already gone" said one of the men as Okou sent him a horrified look when Momo and Omiya came up to help lead their grief-stricken friend away.

Once a few feet away form the men watching over the burning home, Okou dropped to her knees in the mud and began to cry heavily as memories of her loving parents overcame her. As she realized that she would never feel the warm, inviting embrace of her parents' arms ever again or hear the laughter of her little brother, Okou began crying even harder despite the best efforts of Momo and Omiya to comfort her.

"It must have been this morning's thunderstorm" the girls heard another man say as he indicated the roof as being the start of the fire.

'Iie, it was my stupid brother angering Arashi and his stupid kites' Okou thought to herself as she punched her fists into the mud in anguish and frustration; she may have hated her elder brother, but she loved the rest of her family.

"Make way for the shogun!" an announcement went up from the streets as a group of horsemen and a horse-drawn carriage rode up.

"Was that the Matsubara home?" inquired the shogun's aid of one of the men standing nearby.

"Hai; they're survived by their only daughter, Okou" the man replied solemnly, sending a look of sympathy and concern to the girl kneeling and crying in the mud.

"Not good; not good at all. We can't have an orphan wandering the streets or who knows what kind of riffraff it may attract" noted the shogun to his aid as even he turned back to gaze upon Okou.

"But, Mayer-shichou, she's too old to be put into an orphanage; she'll never be adopted" protested his aid as she watched Momo and Omiya pull their friend up out of the mud and to the wooden entrance to one of the local shops.

"Hai, but what else can be done with her, Bellum-san; offer her to the red-light district?" inquired Shogun Mayer only to receive a shocked look from his aid as the woman's cheeks blushed.

"Take the girl into custody and deliver her to the local orphanage" Bellum-san called out to one of the shogun's personal samurai guardsmen and Okou was quickly taken hold of and made to follow as they all proceeded on to the orphanage much to Momo and Omiya's surprise.

Watching as their friend was led away; the two girls looked to one another and took off running back to Kennai-san's lab with strong concern in their eyes.

"Kennai-san; Kennai-san!" the girls called out excitedly as they entered the lab unceremoniously.

"Easy, girls, easy; now, tell me what's the excitement all about?" Hiraga inquired as he sat down to rest his aged bones.

"It's Okou; her home burned down this morning from a lightning strike and all of her family was killed" began Momo as she panted from the exertion of running.

"And now she's being taken to the orphanage and may be taken away from us forever" Omiya finished for her friend as she too was panting from the exertion and both girls slowly dropped to their knees before their aged friend in despair.

"Then let us ponder and meditate over this to see if we can find a solution" Hiraga replied as he and the girls began to meditate.

"I wish my family had the money to take Okou in, but we already have trouble making ends meet" Omiya noted quietly to herself.

"I wish Rikiya was here, he's always been known to come up with a solution to even the most difficult problems" Momo noted quietly to herself as her thoughts turned to the young warrior she had a crush upon.

Sitting on her new bed, alone in the large room that all of the children shared at the orphanage, Okou was quietly thinking of the one person she had always been able to rely on for all kinds of help, a young samurai warrior name Rikiya and whom her friend Momo had feelings for.

He lived solitarily when he wasn't away fighting in some battle, with only his horse and cat, in an old bushido school and was revered as the most powerful warrior as he was the only one in town who bore a massive ten foot long zanbato and carried a five foot buster sword on his side. But for his strength and wisdom, he was also kind and gentle at heart. If he would ever see a small child crying with a skinned knee he would always jump to their aid.

Some said he'd had a younger sister but little was known about her or if she even existed at all and was little more than a rumor. But all knew of his cat which was believed to be a kami and was so revered as such. None dared to challenge the animal and only Rikiya was allowed to touch him.

The next day, the first of three would arrive to consider adopting Okou. The man looked her over, liking the feel of her muscles, but disapproved of the softness of her hands.

"Iie, I need a field hand, not a maid" the man said and soon left with another girl.

The second would arrive a little later in the week and looked on her scornfully, "Iie, the master wants a whipping girl and this one seems too refined!" He left empty handed as the woman in charge distinctly told him off about not allowing her children to be abused in such a manner.

The last one, a dark-haired, slanted and shifty-eyed, pale man, came along and looked her over critically before telling her, "Open you mouth; hmm, good size. Now take your clothes off."

"Sumimasen?" Okou asked uncertainly with a furrowed brow.

"Come, come now, I said take them off; I can't very well tell if you'll make a decent teen sex-slave with your clothes on" the man said firmly causing all of the girls present, even Okou and the mistress, to blush brightly in shock.

"Drop dead, baka" Okou shouted and slapped the man across the face; a move that would condemn her to death. According to local law, it was forbidden for a woman to strike a man unless she was married to him.

Okou was soon after taken away to the local yoriki and his doshin to be put to death as a subject to test the sharpness of a samurai's sword. Until her day arrived, she was locked away in a cold, stone cell with two doors, fed bread and water, and would spend her days thinking of her lost family and remembering the happy times until she'd cry herself to sleep. She was only permitted to be visited by her friends once: the day of her execution.

"Kennai-san is trying to talk with Shogun Mayer" Omiya told her comfortingly.

"I know you two are doing your best" Okou replied with a weak smile which turned fear as her cell was opened from the other side and she began to cling onto the inside door for dear life as she reached out to her friends in desperation. "Save me, please!"

Momo and Omiya rapidly fled the keimusho to run for Shogun Mayer's home to let Hiraga know that it was already too late.

One of the doshin entered, paused to watch the other two girls leave, shredded Okou's clothes from her, and proceeded to bind her wrists with a rope while ignoring her tearful pleas, "Please, don't do this, I beg of you!" He then forcefully led her away to a post where her arms were tied high above her head as the yoriki stood a little ways away talking with the swords-smith about a new katana he was considering purchasing.

"Well let's test it then" the samurai said as he handed the sword off to one of his doshin who began to approach Okou who looked up with extreme fear in her tear-soaked eyes.

She braced for her demise as the man pulled back the sword only for a loud gasp to arise from those present, "It's Arashi Okami" and all prostrated themselves before her.

Okou cautiously opened one eye, as she heard something growling deeply and noticed the way everyone was behaving when she felt her bindings being played with. Glancing up, Okou spotted Arashi clawing at the ropes wrapped around her wrists.

The unusually large, long-haired, black feline jumped down to Okou's shoulder and growled at the men present while trying to sharpen its claws on Okou's bindings.

"Quickly, release her as per Arashi's command" announced a Shinto priestess to the doshin and yoriki who quickly released Okou while bowing to her and the cat as they themselves pleaded for forgiveness. "Gomen nasai, Arashi-ue; we knew not that she was your servant."

"Mrow" the large black cat said to Okou as it jumped to the ground from her shoulder.

"Arigato for sparing my life, Arashi-ue" Okou replied with a sniff and a humble bow while wiping the tears from her eyes; pushing away the fact that she wanted to embrace the large feline and cry her eyes out in his fur.

"Merow" the cat said back as it looked up at her.

Turning to go retrieve her clothes the cat then growled and gave out a harsh "Meh!"

"Gomen nasai, but he demands you to follow him as you are" noted the Shinto priestess who had been called when Arashi was first seen.

"But Arashi-ue, I can't be seen wandering around town naked" protested Okou only to have Arashi run between her and her clothes with an even firmer and louder, "MEH!"

"Hai, Arashi-ue, I'll come with you; it's not like I have a choice anyway since my clothes were ripped from me" Okou replied with a sigh and began to follow Arashi as he led her into the woods and away from town, much to her relief.

**This is the final cut of this chapter and I still encourage any and all to comment; with the exception of Flamers as they are enforced to heed the proverb: "If you can't say anything nice, THEN SHUT THE HELL UP!" Also, it should be noted that this story will progress very slowly as I intend to have many large chapters for your reading pleasure.  
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**Also, as I'm sure many of you have noted, there are quite a few real Japanese words and honorifics used through this; if you disapprove of this, please keep it to yourselves as I do not wish to hear it since I will also be supplying you with their English counterparts, though, in some cases, the definition is provided in the storyline itself. It should also be noted that many of these words can also be looked up online on Wikipedia and many other sites.**

**Iie – no**

**Hai – yes**

**Sumimasen – I'm sorry; Excuse me**

**Gomen nasai – Excuse me; Forgive me **

**Daidokoro – kitchen**

**Oteari – bathroom 1: the toilet**

**Furoba – bathroom 2: quite literally, the bathing room; it should be noted that in Japan that these two rooms are not one in the same as in Western homes.**

**O-shiri – your backside**

**Zanbato – please see Wikipedia for full explanation**

**Yoriki – synonymous with police chief and a low ranking samurai**

**Doshin – synonymous with police officers**

**Keimusho – prison**

**Kami – deities (not to be confused with the Western term of God) that would inhabit many things in nature and natural phenomenon; i.e. mountains, waterfalls, storms, animals, etc.**

**-ue – honorific that denotes highest respect towards someone or something**

**(*)Footnote – The lack of an honorific can denote one of two things, either being really close to an individual, as in husband and wife, or strong contempt; in this case, the latter is applied. Also, one doesn't necessarily apply an honorific when referring to someone in the third person.  
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	2. Chapter 2

**Arigato for the informative reviews, my friends, and I hope you make a point to check out the improvements done to Chapter 1; more importantly, the added bibliography. But now to continue the story, I wish to humbly present to you all:**

**Chapter 2**

Arashi and Okou were deep into the woods, though it took quite some time to get there as Okou was having a difficult time traversing the terrain barefoot; slipping in mud, getting scratched by bushes, and having to climb over a couple of fallen trees, especially one rather large tree.

"OW! Can't we take a break for a few minutes, Arashi-ue?" pleaded Okou after getting slapped in the face by a branch and trying to massage away the pain.

"Mrow" Arashi answered as he paused to sharpen his claws on an old tree until Okou caught up with him.

"You could have at least allowed me to find something to have covered myself and to grab my shoes, Arashi-ue" Okou mumbled as she approached and leaned against the tree.

"Meow" Arashi replied as he continued on his way and calling her to follow.

"I guess that means 'iie'" Okou sighed in defeat as she continued to follow after the large feline.

After another hour's travel, Okou noticed an opening in the woods ahead and soon both she and Arashi paused to gaze out on an open field. Standing a little ways away was the old bushido school where Arashi and Rikiya lived, though right now it was empty. To the right stood the corral and small barn which was used to shelter Raiden, Rikiya's black horse; an animal that would know no rider other than his master.

To access the property, one had to cross an arched bridge that crossed a small stream to which Arashi walked to first and began to drink from before sending Okou a look which indicated that she join him in a drink.

"Arigato, Arashi-ue, I really could use a drink" Okou expressed to the cat as she knelt down beside him and, after well rinsing her hands of dirt in the cold water, drank her fill.

Feeling something splashing her, Okou glanced over to notice the way Arashi kept putting on paw onto the water's surface and then flicking the water off and onto her.

"But this water is freezing cold, Arashi-ue" Okou protested only to get splashed even quicker by the large cat and so she stepped into the water to rinse the majority of the dirt off.

After a few minutes, Okou rose up out of the water, with her arms wrapped tightly around herself as she rubbed her arms for warmth and began to follow after Arashi as he crossed the bridge and sauntered over to the entrance gate.

"Meow" Arashi said as he walked over to the entrance gate, pausing to send a look back to the girl as she was standing a distance away in the warm sunlight.

Catching up with the feline, Okou opened the gate and entered the courtyard behind Arashi and soon they came upon the entrance to the old school. Arashi scratched at the mat and Okou lifted it to find the key, thus granting them entrance into the old building.

"Sugoi, this place has been really well taken care of" Okou said quietly as she entered the genkan and gazed around at the dark interior of the school that had been converted into a home.

"Merow" Arashi said as he walked purposely towards one room at the end of the main hallway and stopped to wait for Okou to catch up.

"But, Arashi-ue, my feet are dirty; I can't track mud into your home" protested Okou though she feared angering a kami.

Arashi then walked over to one door, stuck one paw underneath, and pulled it open to reveal a closet full of cleaning supplies before walking over to another room and sat down to as though expecting Okou to come to him. Approaching the feline despite her filthy body, Okou soon found herself standing in the doorway to the furoba's antechamber and cautiously approached the o-furo to test the water; it was still a little warm.

Following the cat to the daidokoro, Okou found the hatch to the o-furo's heater and loaded it with firewood and started a fire to heat the water up. After about ten minutes of tending the fire, Okou shut the hatch and walked back to the furoba where

Okou noticed the nice wooden hutch that stored bath towels and wash cloths inside while the washbowls and bars of soap sat on top.

Nodding her head to Arashi, Okou retrieved a washbowl and dipped it into the water. She then picked up a bar of soap and washrag and began to scrub herself clean. Finished, Okou then rinsed the soap off with the water before entering the hot water of the furoba and sat down to soak up the warmth with the water at her neckline; Arashi settling down beside her in a compact bundle with his four legs underneath him and his tailed wrapped around his body, on the edge of the o-furo. After about thirty minutes of enjoying the water, Okou rose up and retrieved a towel to dry off with before grabbing up a second towel to wrap around herself before heading off to clean up the dirty footprints she had left behind.

"I just hope Rikiya doesn't come home and find me like this" Okou said to Arashi, who was intently watching her as she knelt on the floor, scrubbing up her muddy footprints.

By the time Okou had finished cleaning up after herself, it was late in the evening and she had yet to eat. Arashi seemed to sense this and so led her to the daidokoro to prepare some chicken sushi for both of them.

"It's been a while since I made this, so I can only hope it comes out properly" Okou explained to Arashi who was watching her intently from the shokujichuni and gently swaying to catch the inviting odors coming from the renji.

Laying out some cooked seaweed, Okou then took the rice and covered the seaweed; placing the slices of chicken onto one end of seaweed/rice page, she then rolled them together to form two scrolls with the chicken in the center. Taking each scroll, she then sliced them up into small rolls and placed them onto two plates which she then carried to the table for both of them to enjoy.

Watching him intently, Okou waited to see if Arashi would snub her chicken sushi or to dig right in before taking a bite of her own meal. Arashi gave one roll a quick lick and was soon eating quite voraciously much to Okou's pleasure as she too began to partake of her meal.

While Arashi washed up after his meal, Okou washed and dried the dishes before heading off for bed. By the light of a lantern, Arashi led her to one of the bedrooms and began to scratch at one of the futons that had been tucked away and Okou pulled it out, and unrolled it to find an old underskirt and a cotton shirt. Finding them to be a perfect fit for her, Okou then picked up a blanket which she carefully laid out atop the mattress, and folding her towel, Okou settled down into the bed, picked up the small lantern she had been carrying with her, blew out the candle, and settled down to sleep for the night, with Arashi curled up and sleeping on top of her.

As she slept soundly, Rikiya and his band of samurai friends were riding past the old school, "I'd invite you in for a shot of sake, but Arashi would pitch a fit."

"That's alright, Rikiya-kun, I'm so tired I could sleep for a week" replied Takeshi, Rikiya's wingman on the battle field.

"Hai; and I want to wrap my arms around my sweet Omiya after a get at least 48 hours of sleep" added Eri, Rikiya's second in command.

"Oyasumi nasai, you all can continue chatting if you should so desire, but I just want to go home to my beloved wife" said Kane with a polite wave to his companions as he rode on home.

"Like Kane said, oyasumi nasai, Rikiya-kun" said Hyosuke as he, Takeo, and Takeshi spurred their horses onward toward their home.

"And right after I get a good night's sleep, I plan on going to that new little ramen shop in town to visit with that cute little waitress and to eat until I pass out" noted Atsushi as he gave Rikiya a friendly punch in the arm and rode off towards home.

Watching until he could no longer see his friends, Rikiya then led Raiden to his barn, removed his riding gear and weapons from the horse, fed and watered the animal before heading in for the night. Leaving his shoes in the genkan, Rikiya then headed for the room where he stored his armor and two swords, there he undressed to his underclothes and then headed for the furoba where he noticed one of the washbowls was wet, a bar of soap had been used, the water in the o-furo was quite hot, and the floor looked like it had been freshly cleaned.

"I don't know who was here, but at least they cleaned up after themselves" noted Rikiya quietly to himself as he took up the same bowl and began to wash himself.

When finished with his bath, Rikiya walked to his room and noticed for the first time that Arashi was suspiciously absent and went in search for the large feline. Walking past the second bedroom, Rikiya suddenly paused and returned to glance into the room and noticed that his visitor was still there and Arashi was asleep on top of her.

Glancing up for a quick moment to acknowledge Rikiya's presence, Arashi settled back down and fell back asleep. Rikiya scratched his head in bewilderment but decided to let it go for the time being and returned to his own room to turn in for the night.

The next morning, Okou was awakened by Arashi who had jumped up to the window and pushed it wide open, letting in the bright morning sun. Sitting up and stretching her arms wide while yawning, Okou rose up and folded the blanket she had used and put it away before returning to and rolling up the futon.

"Ohayo, Arashi; arigato for letting me use this underskirt and cotton shirt for some covering" Okou appreciatively as she left the room to go fix them some breakfast.

In the daidokoro Okou pulled out a pan and began to crack a couple of eggs into the pan along with some pieces of thickly sliced ham, tossing the eggs into the renji for the fire to feed off of.

The inviting aroma drifted through the house and into Rikiya's room, awakening him. Sitting up and looking towards his door in curiosity, Rikiya slid out of his bed and dressed before heading out to the shokudo where he found Arashi sitting patiently on the shokujichuni. He then peered into the daidokoro and noticed the young girl standing at the renji and wearing only underclothes and blushed deeply as he averted his gaze so as not to stare at her while pondering his next course of action.

'It was then that Okou would look out the window and notice Raiden was in his pen and grazing on the grass. Clasping her hands to her cheeks in shock Okou began to ask aloud, "Oh iie, if Raiden is in the pen then that means, *gasp* Rikiya's home and could find me with only underclothes for covering! What if he…what if he smells breakfast cooking and comes out here to find me dressed like this? Why didn't Arashi let me grab my clothes before bringing me here?"

Recognizing the girl's voice, Rikiya said, "Can we discuss that later, Okou-chan; breakfast is beginning to burn."

Okou pulled the pan off of the burner before letting out an embarrassed sigh as she pulled out three plates and began to serve up breakfast. She then carried them to the shokujichuni where Arashi awaited along with Rikiya who was doing his best to keep his eyes covered so as not to see Okou in her current condition.

"Go ahead and look, Rikiya-sama" Okou said after a while of watching Rikiya absently searching for his food with his chopsticks.

Removing his hand from over his eyes, Rikiya inquired, "Do you wish to talk about it?"

"Iie, I just want some clothes to wear" Okou replied with a sniff as she brushed a couple of stray tears from her eyes and Arashi cocked his head to one side as he looked at the girl in concern.

Arashi then turned and began to sharpen his claws on one of the shokujichuni's legs and Rikiya began to get the hint but also had the wisdom and foresight not to say a word.

After breakfast and the dishes washed and dried, Rikiya led Okou to another room in the house and began to pull out a change of clothes as he told her, "Now, I'm not sure if these will fit you or not, but they used to belong to my imoto and you're welcome to use them until we can get you some clothes of your own."

"Arigato, Rikiya-sama" Okou replied gratefully as Rikiya left the room to leave her to dress in privacy.

Fifteen minutes later, as Rikiya stood in his street vestments with his buster sword on his waist, Okou exited the room, still barefoot, and tapped him on the shoulder, "Sumimasen, but the sandals don't fit."

"That's alright, we can still walk to town to get you some new clothes" Rikiya told her with a disarming smile.

"Just one small favor: when we're in town, could you refer to me as Kaoru; I don't want people to know it's really me" Okou requested concernedly, and Rikiya simply nodded his head in agreement, knowing better than to ask questions as of yet.

Together they walked into town; Arashi riding on Okou's shoulders and purring contentedly. Upon entrance, many sent the trio curious looks as it was uncommon for Rikiya to be seen with a girl and it was even more uncommon to see Arashi riding on someone's shoulders.

Entering the first shop, many of the ladies came forward and bowed respectively towards Rikiya and he bowed in return before ordering, "My friend here needs some new clothes and I wish you to attend her needs while I continue with my errands."

"Hai, Udetsuyoi-sama" the ladies replied simultaneously as they whisked Okou deeper into their shop to begin measuring her while Arashi leaped clear of Okou's shoulders to take a perch on a high shelf to oversee everything without getting stepped on.

Stripping the clothing she had been wearing from her, one of the ladies came up with a cloth tape measure and began to measure Okou around her chest line while another came up and began to measure her inseam.

Another girl came up with a pad and pen and began to ask Okou, "What is your choice of color?"

"Onegai shimasu, I'd prefer green" Okou replied as yet another girl came forward with an assortment of green cloth in varying patterns.

"Just plain" Okou said and the girl quickly returned the patterned cloths to their locations and quickly brought out the plain greens.

"Emerald, jade, grass, or forest" inquired the girl as she laid the new cloth out in front of Okou as she was still being measured.

"Ah, okusama needs new underclothes as well" announced yet a fifth woman, this one slightly older than the others.

"Hai" spoke up two ladies who were responsible for making underclothes for their clients and quickly came forward to look Okou over closely and to read the first woman's measurements of Okou's waist, inseam, and chest size.

"Color's okusama?" inquired the fourth to get Okou's attention again.

"Jade for the inner cloth and emerald for the outer" Okou replied while trying not to laugh as her feet were being measured for tabi stockings.

"Here take these measurements to the kutsushikunin" spoke the girl who had measured Okou's feet as she passed a copy of the measurements to another girl who quickly left.

When Rikiya returned from running his errands, Okou was presented, fully attired in her new clothes down to the clogs on her feet, a pair of straw-soled house slippers sat on a pile of clothing neat by.

"Now that's the Kaoru-chan I have come to know and endear as my imoto" Rikiya said with a smile, pleasing the ladies, especially Okou, and the shoemaker immensely.

As they were leaving, the man who had sentenced Okou to death began to walk past, pausing to sneer at her with great displeasure.

"So, you managed to escape your own execution I see" the man growled at Okou when Rikiya came up behind her. "Better watch out for this treacherous little serpent, Udetsuyoi-sama, she's known to strike without provocation."

A crowd was beginning to gather and everyone was glaring at Okou with anger until Arashi leapt to her shoulder and did the one thing everyone feared seeing him do: he hissed long and hard at the man; a move that almost spelled certain death to its receiver.

"According to Arashi, you are the one not to be trusted and my Kaoru-chan fully trusted" Rikiya replied with a furrowed brow before leading her away to return home; Rikiya had every right to strike the man down, but didn't like to get his buster sword dirty unless it was on the battle field as it was more honorable.

As they were walking through the streets of town, they passed in front of Okou's old home and Rikiya noticed her give pause to stare a the remains of her home. Tears began to stream down Okou's cheeks as she recalled that horrible night and even Arashi was concerned as he began to rub his head against her cheek in hopes of bringing some kind of cheer to the saddened girl.

"You're right, Arashi-ue, let's go home. Stopping to remember what was won't help the future" Okou said with a deep sigh and a sniff as she turned and caught up with Rikiya who wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder.

Later that afternoon, the shops' delivery men arrived with the food items which were placed into storage, and Okou's new clothes were also delivered. With Arashi overseeing and Rikiya helping, Okou moved into the empty room of the old school.

Once they were finished, Rikiya led Okou to his armory room and showed her the small memorial to his imoto, who was buried in the field not too far away from the old school, and she gazed down to notice a painted picture of a very young girl with long, flowing, white hair.

"Her name was Ami; she died a few years back to an illness that no one knew of a cure for. I wanted to show this to you before I added a picture of your family to it; the shogun's aid gave it to me this afternoon" Rikiya told her solemnly as he passed her a picture of her family.

"Hai, but I just need to make one small adjustment to it first" Okou replied as she took the painting from Rikiya.

Using a tanto, purchased as a gift from Rikiya, she cut her brother, Dai, out of the picture before tearfully adding it to the small shrine and bowing respectfully to the pictures as Rikiya did the same beside her.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Rikiya inquired as he reached over a wiped the tears from Okou's eyes with his hands.

Okou told him everything and ended sobbing into his chest as she beat a small fist against his chest as she asked the inevitable question, "Why, Rikiya, why did my parents and otoko have to die? Why couldn't it have just been my stupid oniisan?"

"I don't know, Okou-chan; I just don't know. I asked the same question when I lost my imoto" Rikiya replied gently as he embraced the girl and began to rub the back of her head comfortingly as he, too, shared a couple of tears of sympathy; even Arashi rubbed up against Okou's legs to try and comfort the upset girl as he kept looking up at her in concern.

The two soon left the armory and shrine room to prepare dinner together. Afterwards, Okou headed for the furoba and began to clean up before going to bed. As Okou was in the furoba, Rikiya wrote out a list of chores for Okou to do to help him out around the house, all of which he would pay her for.

As Okou exited the furoba, he called her over to him and showed her the list, "You will be paid one bushel of rice***** for doing all of this as you will be greatly helping me to take care of our home."

"But you're already giving me free room and board, I couldn't take any kind of payment" Okou protested loudly.

"And that will be part of your payment, but I also want you to have a little something to spend when we're running errands in town" Rikiya told her with a warm smile and she slowly nodded her head in agreement before she was sent off to bed with Arashi riding on her shoulders; his new favorite perch.

Okou walked into her new room and pulled out her futon and prepared it for the night before sliding in under the blanket.

As Rikiya was walking past Okou's room, on his way to his own room, he paused as he quietly listened to her say, "You know, Arashi-ue; it hurt losing my family like that, but at least despite my losing them, I gained a new oniichan who loves me as much as I love him. Not to mention a new companion and a guardian kami in the form of a large black cat; oyasumi nasai, Arashi-ue."

Smiling at this, Rikiya continued on to his room and, after reading a few lines from his book Bushido Shoshinshu, turned in for the night himself.

**And thus you have chapter 2! Now for those definitions I promised:**

**Renji – stove**

**Shokudo – dining room**

**Shokujichuni – meal table**

**Kutsushikunin – shoemaker **

**Otoko – little brother**

**Onegai shimasu – please**

**Oyasumi nasai – good night**

**Oniisan – big brother; not close to**

**Imoto – little sister**

**If I missed any, please let me know.**

***Footnote: People back in ancient Japan were paid in bushels of rice; they were even taxed in rice. Many years later would come the creation of real money in the form of yen.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Again, I wish to thank all of my reviewers for your helpful reviews. This chapter is dedicated to Carly-chan as it was with her assistance and agreement that we came to create our newest O.C. based on her O.C.! Also, since Carly-chan's not been feeling well lately, let this chapter double as a great big GET WELL SOON! wish to her. And now, let us continue with…**

**Chapter 3**

Believing their lifelong friend to have fallen to an executioner's sword, Momo, Omiya, and Professor Kennai were left to find a replacement for Okou. It had been a long grueling search for just the right girl to take Okou's place, but they finally found one in a small ramen shop along the outskirts of town and she was sassily telling off a customer who had dared to snub the noodles he was served.

"What do you mean, third-rate noodles? Why the great Udetsuyoi-sama comes in here and praises my father's ramen as being the best he's ever eaten in this town!" the girl shouted at the man.

"Sumimasen, but I find them to be nearly bland; everywhere else I go they provide flavorful sauces in with their ramen noodles" the man told her gently, hoping that Udetsuyoi himself wasn't visiting at the time; the last person to put down the noodles when Rikiya was around, found himself wearing his bowl of ramen and staring down the warrior's blade until he apologized immensely.

"Ugh, no wonder you don't know good ramen when it's placed before you. All of those other cheap restaurants smother their noodles in sauces so that you can't properly taste the ramen" the girl replied as she stormed away with a disgruntled look on her face.

"Ooh, she has spunk" Omiya said with a smile.

"That one, definitely that one; she'd make a great addition to the team" Momo replied with a sigh; she hated to think of them as 'replacing' Okou.

Professor Kennai then 'accidentally' knocked his chopsticks to the floor as the girl was passing by and she politely stooped down to pick them up for the elderly gentleman when he splashed the last little bit of Kennainium-He onto the girl.

Standing up and looking at the man in shock, the girl began to glow with a white light and soon transformed; her full-length kimono was replaced with a shorter one in magenta and on her belt were two kendo swords, her straw-soled slippers were replaced with clogs, and her long, flowing auburn hair was pulled back into a long braid.

Rising from their seats, Momo and Omiya quickly introduced themselves and explained what had happened.

"Do you mean to tell me that I am now one of the Oedo Chakichaki Musume?" the girl, who had introduced herself as Karin, asked with an excited smile on her face.

"Hai, we need the help since, well…" Omiya started to explain but fell silent as she turned to Momo for assistance.

"Our other teammate was recently executed" Momo finished with angry and sad tears in her eyes as she could still see the terrified look on Okou's face when the man had come to take her.

"Sumimasen, I didn't mean to reopen such a deep wound" Karin apologized sincerely.

"It's alright, we're learning to deal with it" Momo replied as she quickly regained her composure and smiled.

"Just one question though, if I may: if Kare is gone, then why are the Oedo Chakichaki Musume still needed?" Karin curiously inquired.

"To watch over and protect the city when it's real protectors are away" Omiya answered honestly.

"Don't worry, I'm going to go talk with you father and let him know what's going on, while Omiya and Momo show you the ropes" Professor Kennai informed Karin with a disarming smile before letting the girls continue on their way.

Back at Udetsuyoi's home, the following morning, Okou was up early and cleaning the house as they had agreed that she would be Rikiya's live-in maid under the circumstances. Having already finished her own breakfast, Okou fixed Rikiya's and Arashi's breakfasts as well.

"Ohayo, Okou-chan, how are you doing this morning?" inquired Rikiya politely with a warm smile.

"Ohayo, Rikiya-sama; I'm doing well and your breakfast is almost done" Okou replied with a respectful bow to her masters, as Arashi was walking into the room alongside Rikiya.

"Arigato, I'll finish breakfast if you would do me the favor of saddling up Raiden for me; I have an appointment to speak with Shogun Mayer later this morning" Rikiya informed Okou as he came up behind her.

"Hai, I'll go get to it right now" Okou said excitedly as she ran to the genkan, slid on her new clogs, and ran out the door and over to Raiden's stable.

"Ohayo, Raiden; Rikiya-sama asked that I saddle you up for him" Okou told the black horse as she picked up the saddle and approached the large animal to put it on.

Okou, however, was having a difficult time as Raiden was both too tall for her and uncooperative with her efforts. Finally managing to get the saddle buckled on, Okou noticed that the seat was on Raiden's side instead of his back. Letting out a sigh of frustration with herself for her ineptitude, she proceeded to try to fix the issue by simply reseating the saddle in its proper place, a task that ended with her sitting in the saddle.

Rikiya had forgotten to mention one small detail to Okou, and she was about to pay the price for his error.

Raiden shot out of the stable like his namesake and began to run and buck all around his pen, giving Okou quite a thrill ride as she screamed for help!

Rikiya and Arashi came dashing out of the house and were fearfully watching the performance Raiden was giving while Okou screamed for dear life!

"Whoa, whoa, whoa; come on, be a good horse for me" Okou pleaded with the animal until he suddenly came to a halt right in front of his trough and Okou continued forward, somersaulted off Raiden's head, and splashed down into the trough.

Raiden proceeded to knicker at her in such a way that it sounded as though he were laughing at the drenched girl who was now on the verge of tears as not only had her o-shiri been hurt in the fall, but so had her pride.

"Oh iie; are you alright, Okou-chan" called Rikiya as he ran up and began to help her up out of the trough. "It's my fault; I forgot to mention that Raiden will only allow me to ride him. Warui, Raiden, warui" Rikiya shouted at the horse who made a foot shuffling maneuver as though he were ashamed of himself.

Arashi jumped up onto the railing beside Okou and hissed at Raiden until the large horse returned to his stable with his head low; it was one thing to be scolded by Rikiya, but it was a lot worse when hissed at by Arashi.

Okou said nothing as she buried her face in her hands and began crying quite heavily as Rikiya led her inside and back to her room.

"Come on, let's get these wet things off of you before you catch a cold" Rikiya told Okou as he began to help her to undress; averting his gaze when she removed her underclothes and began drying off.

"You can look now" Okou told Rikiya as she was now all bundled up in a warm blanket.

"Daijobu, why don't you go fix yourself a nice cup of tea to help warm yourself up. I'm going to head out and to go see the shogun; Arashi, keep a close eye on Okou-chan while I'm gone" Rikiya instructed as he took up his buster sword and headed out the door; Arashi just twisted his ears as though to inquire, 'When am I _not_ in charge of looking over my possessions?'

"Rikiya meant no disrespect to you, Arashi-ue; he just wanted to let me know that you would be remaining here to keep me company and to protect me" Okou told the large feline as he leaped up into Okou's lap and began purring as he took a nap.

Rikiya rode along swiftly when he saw three flashes of light cross the sky above him; one red, one blue, and the last one was magenta.

"Nani; isn't there supposed to be a green one?" Rikiya asked of no one as he stared up at the three girls who had given pause to land and bow respectively to him.

"Ohayo gozaimasu, Udetsuyoi-sama" the girls greeted him respectfully.

"Ohayo; sumimasen if I don't stay to chat, but I've an appointment with the shogun. Be well" Rikiya informed them as he spurred Raiden on to the shogun's home.

The three girls smiled to one another and soon flew off to return to their survey of the town, happy knowing that they had received Rikiya's blessing.

Arriving at the shogun's castle, Rikiya entered to find the man in a conference with a couple of his daimyo who were voicing the complaints of the people to him, "Ever since word of Okou's death has been made publicly known, the people are greatly concerned for their safety."

"And what's more is that they're uncertain of the abilities of this new girl since she wasn't there to help out with the defeat of Kare" spoke up the second.

"Ah, Udetsuyoi-san, I'm pleased to see you made it. Maybe you can help settle this little issue for me" welcomed the shogun as his eyes landed upon Rikiya.

"You can let the people know that my men and I have returned to watch over the town along with the Oedo Chakichaki Musume, so they have nothing to worry about. However, in regards to Okou's death and the destruction of the Matsubara home, I am greatly disturbed by this news; nani happened?" Rikiya informed the daimyo before addressing the shogun directly.

"A horrible accident and a travesty, I'm afraid. Onegai, come and share a cup of tea with me and I will inform you of everything" the shogun replied as his wife entered the room carrying a tea service.

"Have they done any investigating into the cause of the fire?" Rikiya inquired after being informed of the house-fire.

"Iie, it was thought to have been a lightning strike" the shogun replied as he looked across the table at Rikiya.

"Nani of this thing I've been hearing about Okou being executed; did she kill someone or something?" Rikiya inquired sarcastically.

"With the death of her family, Okou was sent to live in the local orphanage. One of those who came to consider taking her in was a baka searching for a sex slave to sell or trade. She slapped him when he explained himself to her and…well, you know how the law works around these parts" the shogun answered onto to receive an astonished look from Rikiya.

"I thought you disposed of that law!" Rikiya said quite loudly causing the shogun to cringe away from him.

"I did, but the change didn't go into effect until the next day and she had already been sentenced" Shogun Mayer replied defensively.

"So one of my very good friends was sentenced to die dishonorably because some hentaisha can't keep his crudity to himself; if I ever meet the fool, I'll see to it Okou's honor is returned to her by dishonorably killing the baka who stole her honor from her" Rikiya swore angrily.

"I know you plan to return to the Matsubara home to look over the ruins; onegai, allow me to accompany you" requested the shogun as he summoned for their horses to be made ready to leave.

Walking through the hall towards the exit, Rikiya came upon the same man who had begun pestering Okou from the other day, now dragging another girl along with him, and paused to catch the man's attention.

"Are you the one who took Matsubara Okou's honor from her?" Rikiya queried with a furrowed brow

"If you mean am I the one who went to try to adopt her, teach her a well-paying career, and to sell her for a small profit, then hai, I am" the man replied smugly.

Rikiya's blade made a quick flash as it sliced through the man's torso and the man fell in two pieces. Rikiya caught up the girl the deceased had been dragging along with him as she began to faint from the sight of so much blood, and carried her outside to hand her over to the stable hand with instruction to return the girl to her home.

"You could have waited and asked to speak with him outside" the shogun said as he followed Rikiya while sidestepping the mess.

"Sumimasen, I lost my temper" Rikiya replied with a strong lack of concern as the shogun's guards entered the shogun's home to clean up Rikiya's mess as the two men rode away.

As they approached the burned up shell of the Matsubara home, Rikiya took a moment to solemnly bow before the house before entering while the shogun remained outside of the home.

Looking around the house cautiously, Rikiya soon found a couple of iron bars sitting on the floor beneath one of the windows with a small piece of charred string attached to them. Collecting the bars and carrying them as he continued to search the remains of the house, until he came to the old grain bin and found burned grain everywhere inside of the bin.

"Kuso, Dai, you killed your own family!" Rikiya shouted at full voice before disposing of the iron rods so that they couldn't attract any more lightning in a future storm.

Listening to Rikiya as he explained what he'd found, Shogun Mayer remained silent as he had nothing to offer as an answer.

Upon mounting Raiden, Rikiya gave the iron rods over to Shogun Mayer before spurring Raiden on to return home while shedding tears of pain over the loss of such good friends as Okou's parents.

Having lost his all but his sister, Ami, at a rather young age, the Matsubara's were always looking out for him and Ami until such time as they could fully take care of themselves. It hurt Rikiya to know that it was their eldest son who brought about their untimely death and left the only other girl he would ever endear as his imoto alone.

Stopping at the sight where upon the Matsubara's had been buried, Rikiya knelt down before their graves to pay his utmost respect to Okou's parents while vowing to them that he would take real good care of Okou much the same way as they had taken care of him and Ami.

Back at the old dojo, Okou was inside and lounging naked in the warm sun when Arashi came up to remind her that she still had chores to get done. Getting dressed, Okou proceeded outside to the hand pump with an empty bucket in her hands. Pumping the handle until the water turned quite cold, Okou then filled the bucket with fresh water when she noticed three streaks of light crossing the sky above her and quickly retreated back inside with only a half bucket of water.

In the sky above, Omiya paused to notice movement on the ground below near Rikiya's home and, just as she started to pay closer attention, noticed the backdoor close rather quickly. Stopping to notice this, Momo and Karin returned to hover beside their friend, gazing down to the ground below.

"Nani is it, Omiya-chan" inquired Karin with intrigue.

"I saw someone on the ground below and they just ran into Rikiya's home" Omiya answered as she began to descend to the ground below just as Rikiya was riding up.

"Konnichiwa, ladies; may I be of any assistance to you?" Rikiya asked of the girls as he dismounted Raiden to lead him in to the stable.

"Konnichiwa, Rikiya-sama; we were running our survey of the area when Omiya spotted someone run into your home and thought you might have a trespasser" Momo explained with a humble bow.

"Oh, you probably just saw my new housekeeper; she's extremely shy about being seen by strangers" Rikiya replied with a friendly smile as he removed the saddle from Raiden.

"Oh well maybe you can introduce us sometime?" offered Omiya helpfully.

"Sure, but it's getting late right now so perhaps some other time" Rikiya replied as he stopped to notice Arashi looking out at him through the window.

"Hai; oyasumi nasai, Udetsuyoi-sama" the girls replied, bidding him a good night with a polite bow before taking off and flying away.

"Are they gone?" Okou inquired as she poked her head out into the daidokoro once Rikiya entered the house.

"Hai, they're gone, but I think you and I need to have a little talk" Rikiya replied solemnly as he sat down in the main room.

"Am I in some kind of trouble?" Okou asked as she sat down across from Rikiya; Arashi jumping into her lap to provide her with protection should Rikiya become violent.

"Okou-chan, this isn't an easy thing to tell you, but…your family had very little chance of surviving the fire" Rikiya informed her carefully and quietly so as not to scare the girl.

"What do you mean?" Okou requested as she looked at him confusion.

"I found the iron bars that you had mentioned being tied to the kite stings. They had carried the energy along main joist and down to the grain bin where upon the grain ignited and exploded causing a literal fireball to spread through the house" Rikiya quietly explained as he moved over to sit beside Okou.

"Do you think they died quickly and mercifully?" Okou asked in an almost inaudible voice as tears began to brim in her eyes.

"I can't honestly say, but with the strength of the explosion plus the velocity of the fireball, I can only hazard a guess that they did indeed go quickly" Rikiya replied as he pulled Okou into a hug as she began to lightly sob against his chest.

"I told Dai not to cast those stones at Arashi, but he wouldn't listen. And now my whole family has been punished for his stupidity" Okou explained after a few minutes of crying.

"Daijobu, for now let's get you cleaned up and then put some food in our stomachs; I'll look more into it in the morning" Rikiya instructed her comfortingly before sending her off to wash her face.

Later that night, after their baths had been taken, they entered the shrine room where they paid their respects to both their own and each other's families before turning in for the night. Okou began to twist, whimper, and moan in her sleep as she was being plagued with a nightmare of that horrific night until Rikiya entered her room and laid down beside her, pulling her up against him until she settled down and slept restfully the remainder of the night.

The next day, instead, proved a stormy one so Rikiya decided not to pursue his venture and remain home with Okou, who really seemed quite happy that he had.

Okou was loading the fireplace when one piece of wood slipped from her grasp and sliced her hand deep. Looking up from reading, Rikiya saw the blood dripping from Okou's hand and took her into the daidokoro and had her set her hand into a bucket of cold water. Removing her hand long enough to examine the wound for debris, Rikiya returned Okou's hand to the water as he retrieved a length of cloth to bind around her hand.

"There, you okay now?" Rikiya questioned of Okou with concern.

"Hai, I'm fine" Okou replied quietly as she stared at Rikiya's hand which was holding onto hers, she was enjoying it immensely.

"You're kimono's gotten a little dirty from the logs, maybe you should go change" suggested Rikiya, though he didn't release Okou's hand.

Gracing on hand down to the sash wrapped around her waist, Okou slid it off to let her kimono fall slightly open before leaning in to kiss Rikiya who showed no attempt to stop her.

They passionately kissed for a few minutes and, just as Rikiya began to reach up to remove her kimono, they were interrupted by a strong crack of thunder.

"Sumimasen, but I guess Arashi-ue doesn't approve of us getting any closer" Okou said as she backed away from Rikiya and retreated to her room to change, not noticing the confused look on Rikiya's face.

Okou returned a little while later, dressed in a clean kimono but barefoot, and she began to sweep the house silently while Rikiya watched her, also silently. Rikiya soon returned to his reading as he remembered the young long, brown-haired girl back in town that he already had a crush upon and so diverted his mind back to his studies of bushido.

**Okay, so to recap, we've met the newest member to the Oedo Chakichaki Musume; Dai's mistake cost the rest of the family their lives; and could it be that Rikiya is starting to develop feelings for Okou and her for him? Only time will tell. And hai, here are the definitions I promised to bring you:**

**Kuso – A swear word in the lines of meaning, Damn it! (And we can all thank Carly-chan for sharing that one with me to share with all of you.)**

**More coming soon, so stay tuned!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Once again I wish to say, arigato, to all of my reviewers. For this chapter, things get a bit suggestive, but nothing really major to worry about, and now, here's…**

**Chapter 4**

The next morning, Rikiya rode into town where he was met by the rest of his samurai team in a quiet corner of a small tavern to converse privately on recent events.

"I can't believe my lovely Okou is really gone" Takeshi said aloud as he longed to hold her in his arms again but knew it wasn't to be.

Rikiya wanted to tell him the truth but feared what may happen to Okou if she were discovered and so kept silent.

"I can't believe what happened to the Matsubara's; they were good people" grumbled Eri with a sour look on his face.

"Well accidents happen, even to the most honorable of families" Takeo informed his men.

"It was no mere accident, Takeo-kun; Dai had set up some four kites in his window, and one of the strings went all the way to the daidokoro where it came to an end in what he probably thought was the ground but was instead their grain bin" Rikiya said sadly before revealing what all he had discovered while making his own investigation.

"And when the energy traveled down to the grain bin, it turned the bin into a massive fireball which decimated the house and everyone inside of it" Eri added, finishing Rikiya's explanation for him.

"You can't tell me that Okou's death was an accident" Takeshi replied gruffly, slightly rising from his seat until Eri waved him back down.

"Iie, nor do I intend to do so; but I did manage to find the ujimushi who sent her to die and cut the baka down" Rikiya informed Takeshi gently.

"Arigato, though I wish you'd saved him for me" Takeshi replied as he calmed down a little, though still upset by Okou's death.

"Sumimasen, but I had iie reason to detain him, just kill him" Rikiya replied to which Takeshi simply nodded his head silently.

"Hey, has anyone noticed that the Oedo Chakichaki Musume have a new member on their team; she's KAWAII!" Atsushi added with a grin on his face as he thought of the pretty girl in a magenta uniform.

"Onegai, can we focus on the matter at hand?" inquired Takeshi as he sent Atsushi a heated look; he was in no mood to hear about his friend's attraction to the new super-heroine.

"More to the point, let's not forget that we have a job to do today despite the rain" Eri reminded everyone.

"We're expect to meet the magistrate at the gate in ten minutes; so let's go" Rikiya ordered and they all nodded their heads in acknowledgement as they collected their weapons and headed for the door.

Riding out into the rain, the warriors speedily arrived at the gate to the town to welcome the magistrate and his wife so as to escort them to the Shogun's castle. More of a tedious job than an exciting one, the men still remained steadfast as they escorted the people on to visit with Shogun Mayer.

While watching over the palace until the shogun's visitors were ready to leave, Atsushi glanced up at the sky to see three streaks of light cross the sky. At the same time, Takeshi noticed the same lights, but found it only reminded him that Okou was no longer with them as her green light-trail was not there.

It had been an all day affair and Rikiya was riding back home in the pouring rain and soon dismounted to lead Raiden into his stable for the night.

Coughing something fierce, Rikiya entered the house dripping wet and walked over to the armory to remove his armor and set his swords up on their displays.

Stepping out of her room with a candle lantern, Okou slowly approached the armory to find Rikiya leaning against the cabinet that held his armor and engaged in a coughing fit.

Knocking politely before entering, Okou concernedly asked, "Are you alright, Rikiya-sama; you sound terrible."

"Good because it's a matched set; I feel terrible too" Rikiya replied as Okou approached him.

"Maybe a hot bath will help you feel better" Okou suggested as she helped him to the furoba.

Taking Rikiya's wet things once he had settled down into the o-furo after scrubbing up, Okou then took them to the back porch and hung them up to dry out and to await washing.

Upon her return, Rikiya had already gone off to bed and so she too returned to her own room to sleep for the night.

Early the next morning, when Rikiya didn't show for breakfast, Okou went to his room to find him still in bed, coughing, and his face red. Slowly approaching and setting a hand upon his forehead gingerly, she found him to be unusually warm.

"Rikiya-sama, you're burning up with a fever. I'll be right back with some tea to help you" Okou told him as she sprinted into the daidokoro and soon returned with a cup of tea.

Helping him to sit up, Rikiya drank down the tea with what strength he had and was soon asleep again. Okou remained at his side for a long time when Rikiya woke up again.

Looking up into her eyes, he told her, "Go get the isha; take Raiden, he'll get you there faster."

"But Raiden doesn't like me" Okou started to protest, but Rikiya had already lost consciousness again. Turning to Arashi, Okou requested of the feline as she bowed to him, "Arashi-ue, onegai stay here and keep an eye on him; I'll be back as soon as I can."

Retrieving Rikiya's hat to keep off the rain, Okou ran out into the weather and into Raiden's stable where she received a challenging look from the animal.

"Look, I know you don't like me and that's fine, but right now Rikiya's sick and needs to be seen by the isha. So I'd really appreciate it if you'd cooperate with me this one time, daijobu?" Okou informed Raiden as she saddled him up and led the creature from his stable before mounting him.

Much to Okou's surprise, Raiden was being cooperative and letting her ride him!

"Daijobu, let's go!" Okou instructed Raiden and he took off at full speed towards town while Okou held on tightly to the reins.

Riding through the darkness and squinting in the rain, they soon approached the isha's home and Okou dismounted Raiden.

Running up to the door and knocking loudly, she called out as loud as she could, "Tasuke, Isha-sensei; tasuke!"

The aged man stepped out of his house and stared into Okou's eyes in confusion as he inquired of her, "What is it, josei; speak up, I can barely hear you over this rain."

Lowering her head so that she couldn't be recognized, Okou told him, "Isha-sensei, it is my master, Rikiya-sama; he's taken quite ill and I'm afraid he could die! Onegai, can you come and examine him?"

Reaching down under her chin, the man lifted Okou's chin to make her look him in the eyes as he inquired, "Okou-chan, is that really you?"

"Tasuke, onegai, my master could be dying and he needs your care" Okou replied to keep from answering him.

"Daijobu, give me a moment to gather some supplies and I'll come with you" the man replied as he returned into his home, gathered up some powdered herbs and mounted his own horse to join accompany her back to Rikiya's home.

Arriving at the house, they tied up the horses in the stable and ran inside where upon they removed their shoes in the genkan before continuing inside.

"So how long have you been in service to Rikiya, Okou-chan?" the doctor inquired as he graced one hand up to sweep some of her hair behind her ear.

"My name is Kaoru; I know not this Okou you refer to" Okou told the man firmly as Arashi came running up and leaped up onto her shoulder and wrapped himself around her neck to warm her.

"Take me to Rikiya's room" the doctor replied solemnly as he looked at Okou in a mixture of sadness and wonderment.

After showing the doctor to Rikiya's room, Okou returned to the kitchen to make some tea for the three of them. After a while the doctor came out and sat down to talk with Okou about Rikiya's condition.

"How is he, isha-sensei?" asked Okou concernedly.

"He has a chill and a slight fever, but I've given him some medicine and I'll be leaving some more medicine with you to give to him. But for right now, I'm more interested in hearing your story, 'Kaoru'" the doctor informed her, placing a strong emphasis on her assumed name.

"Do you promise that this doesn't leave this house?" Okou inquired pleadingly and the doctor nodded his head in agreement.

Okou then told her story to him and he listened intently to her every word, "And so now I live here with Rikiya-sama and Arashi-ue and act as his maid in exchange for free room and board. Whenever we have to leave for town, I go under the name of Kaoru so that no one may truly recognize me."

"And for a good reason; don't worry, Okou-chan, I won't tell a soul" the doctor told her with a comforting smile.

"Arigato, but if I may; how did you know it was really me?" Okou inquired of the man as she poured him another cup of tea.

"Your eyes; of all the girls I've ever delivered in this village, none of them have ever had the intense, shimmering emerald green that your eyes hold. I've seen you mad, angry, sad, and happy, but of all those times, your eyes never lost the shimmering emerald color" the man explained with a smile and Okou blushed at the compliment while thankful he hadn't requested to see her identifying mark.

"I best go now before the stream overruns it banks and blocks the bridge. Keep Rikiya warm and administer the medicine I've given you according to the directions written on the packages. I'll try to come back in a couple of days or so to check up on his progress. Take care of yourself, Okou-chan; we can't have you getting sick after Arashi went to all that trouble of saving you" the doctor further instructed her as he left out into the rain, gathered his horse, and rode away into the night.

Okou soon returned to Rikiya's room to find him shivering in his sleep and began to wonder just how she could keep him warm enough since he already had two blankets on top of him and one underneath him.

"You know, Arashi-ue, mom once slid into my bed with me when I had a bad cold so as to help me stay warm, I wonder if I should do the same with him" Okou told the cat sitting at her feet and he leaned against her leg as though to push her forward.

Walking into the room, Okou slid onto the futon beside Rikiya and did her best to cuddle up to him despite how inappropriate it seemed to her and soon was asleep. She only slept for an hour when she woke drenched in sweat from being so warm and, despite every part of her that screamed against it; she completely undressed and climbed back into bed with Rikiya to sleep for the rest of the night with Arashi sleeping on top of both of them.

Rikiya's fever broke after a couple of days, but he still had a slight chill so Okou would continue to sleep with him to help keep him warm, only leaving to retrieve his medicine, take her meals, feed and water both Raiden and Arashi, and to use either the oteari or the furoba. Okou would even occasionally bring some hot water into Rikiya's room and bathe him herself. It was a tedious task, but Okou kept to it, never letting herself waiver from her goal to make Rikiya better.

One morning, Rikiya awoke feeling a whole lot better, to find a very naked Okou curled up and sleeping almost on top of him and he had one hand upon her bare o-shiri. Arashi glanced up at him, made a soft noise, and went back to sleep.

"Ohayo to you too, Arashi" Rikiya replied to the feline even though he felt really uncomfortable with having Okou sleeping with him in such condition.

Okou soon began to stir and sleepily looked up into Rikiya's face to smile at him until she remembered that she was still quite undressed.

"Gomen nasai, sumimasen; I have to get your medicine" Okou said quickly as she slid out of the futon away from Rikiya and began to hastily dress before running out of the room and to the daidokoro.

Okou carefully read and mixed the powders with hot water, dissolving them into a tea. When she returned to Rikiya's room with his medication, she knelt down beside him and passed him cup over to him. As Rikiya drank down the tea, Okou refused to look him in the eyes, keeping her head bowed low and away from him.

"Okou, about last night…" Rikiya started to say but was quickly interrupted.

"Last night; you've been suffering a fever and chills for the last week! I've been sharing your bed the whole time to keep you warm. The first time I became overheated by the two blankets and so removed my clothes to remain comfortable while sharing my body heat with you to keep you warm and had been doing the same thing everyday since. Sumimasen if my actions were inappropriate, but I was scared that you could have died; I don't want to add another family member to the shrine" Okou blurted out her explanation and silently waited to be slapped for interrupting her master while lightly crying.

Instead of striking her, Rikiya reached over and took her hand into both of his and pulled her into a warm embrace as he replied, "Arigato, it would seem that I owe you my life, Okou-chan."

"Do itashi mashite; I'll go draw you an herbal bath to help you to warm up" Okou answered as she quickly rose up and walked over to the boiler.

Okou was dutifully tossing logs into the boiler to heat the water of the o-furo when Rikiya came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her once more and gently kissed her on the cheek.

"Ladies first" Rikiya murmured into Okou's ear and she silently nodded her head before he led her to the furoba.

Okou was dutifully washing up and soon reached for the back-scrubber to find it missing. However, Rikiya had entered the room with her, picked up her wash cloth, and began to wash Okou's back for her.

"But Rikiya-sama, it's not the master's place to wash his servant's back" Okou silently protested as she gazed over her shoulder at him.

"And how many times do I have to tell you that you're not my servant…you're my imoto. Besides, not every 'servant' would put forth the effort to save their 'master' the way you did so if anything, I owe you the favor" Rikiya told Okou as he kissed her on the cheek once more before rising up to leave the room; wanting to check on Raiden.

Rinsing herself off, Okou soon entered the o-furo when she suddenly heard Rikiya call out her name. Jumping out of the water, Okou ran out of the furoba and out into Raiden's pasture to see Rikiya standing and holding onto Raiden's reins while the horse was still saddled; she'd forgotten to remove it from when she rode him out to retrieve the isha.

"Did you ride, Raiden?" Rikiya asked of her excitedly.

"Hai, I needed to get the isha to come out to check you over and so I told Raiden that I needed him to cooperate with me to help you; it seemed to work" Okou explained as she sighed in relief; she'd thought he'd been injured.

"That's extraordinary, Okou, and…you're naked" Rikiya first said in excitement until he release that Okou was wearing only her birth day suit.

"Hai, and my feet are covered in mud and I don't want to know what else" Okou replied in annoyance until Rikiya scooped her up and carried her back inside to the furoba where he began to wash her feet for her as a means of apologizing.

Noticing Okou's slight discomfort, Rikiya started a conversation, "You know Takeshi still carries a torch for you even though he, as well as everyone else, thinks you're dead."

"Really; I sure wish there was a way for me to rejoin civilization without everyone deciding to correct the error of the yoriki and his doshin. Because I'd pounce on Takeshi the first opportunity I got" Okou replied as she fondly remembered the samurai who had captured her heart.

"I know; he's even kind of upset with me for not letting him have the honor of killing the baka who had you sentenced to death" Rikiya added trying to help Okou to understand that he held no interest in her as anything more than his imoto.

"You mean the guy's dead? When did that happen?" Okou inquired both excitedly and happily.

"The other day; I was informed by the shogun of what all happened and when I saw the guy again, I cut him down in a fit of anger. As he condemned you to die in dishonor, by executing him in an even greater dishonor, yours has been restored" Rikiya informed her as he helped her into the o-furo before starting to clean himself up.

Rikiya soon entered the o-furo along with Okou, since the o-furo was large enough to hold four comfortably, and settled back against the back wall to relax and enjoy the hot water. Looking and moving over to Rikiya, Okou leaned back against him to also relax while noticing that Rikiya never once touched her in any intimate location but still managed to hold fast to her as his arms were around her waist.

After soaking for a while, they climbed up out of the water and returned to their respective rooms to dress as Rikiya had promised to take Okou to town for lunch. When exiting the house, they came to a stop when they noticed that the stream that separated their home from the rest of the village had flooded and thus left them stranded until the water went down.

During their time stranded together, Rikiya helped Okou with riding Raiden, "Tighten you grip on the reins; not too tightly now; good; steer him with the reins and don't forget to lean with him in the turns; fantastic, you're both doing remarkably well!"

There were a few times where Raiden tried to bite Okou and acted a bit stubbornly in letting her control him, but between Arashi and Rikiya, they got him to cooperate with her.

By the time the water had receded enough to allow them access to the bridge, they both had learned to respect one another enough so that she could ride him with no further difficulties.

**Like I said, things were a bit suggestive, I know, but traditionally the practice of family bathing and washing family members was a common practice in ancient times. Also, as you will see in a later chapter, there were also the ancient bath houses wherein families, friends, and even complete strangers bathed together as was common back in these ancient times.**

**Ujimushi – maggot; here is used as a derogatory term**

**Isha – doctor; as I'm sure you already figured out**

**Also, if I have missed defining any words, please don't hesitate to let me know so I can provide you and your fellow readers with their English meanings in a future chapter. Now, onegai, REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Arigato to all for the wonderful reviews! And now we're going to get to share in the Bon Festival and ending it with the Toro Nagashi.**

**Chapter 5**

It was the middle of summer and the start of the Bon Festival when Rikiya and Okou began cleaning up the old grave site of his family as they prepared for the return of his family's spirits from the other realm.

Okou was using a tanto to slice through vines while Rikiya used trimmed the overgrown grass from the graves. When this was done, they returned inside, washed up, and went to the family shrine to dust off the name plates of their lost loved ones.

"Are you feeling up to going to the Bon Festival, Okou-chan?" Rikiya asked as he donned a yukata, a light cotton kimono, before venturing out into the heat of the summer day.

"Hai, I'm ready whenever you are, but remember…" Okou replied excitedly but was soon interrupted.

"Refer to you as Kaoru while we're out at the festival, I know" Rikiya replied with a smile as he took her hand and led Okou out the door, though once again, Arashi leaped onto Okou's shoulder to accompany them and to protect her.

They decided to walk so as to let Raiden have a day off in the shade of his stable. They entered town to see many children running around and playing, people singing minyo, and others dancing the Bon Odori.

"So, Kaoru-chan, which would you like to do first, get something to eat or share in the Bon Odori around the yagura?" Rikiya inquired with a smile to his companion.

"I'm feeling a little hungry from all of this morning's work, so let's get something to eat first" 'Kaoru' suggested as she placed one hand over her growling tummy.

"Why not; after all we have three days to party" Rikiya replied as he led her over to his favorite ramen shop.

When they entered they were eagerly greeted by Rikiya's fellow samurai who bid them to join their festivities.

"Easy on the sake, gentlemen; it's only noon" Rikiya instructed his friends as he and Kaoru sat down with them.

"Iie problem, Rikiya-san; so who's your kawaii friend?" inquired a tipsy Takeshi as he summoned for another glass of sake.

"Gentlemen, this is Kaoru, Arashi saved her from the executioner and she has come to be like a sister to me, so treat her with the same respect you give me…or else" Rikiya replied as Karin came up.

"Sumimasen, Takeshi-sama, but you've already had four drinks and that's one over the limit already; I don't want to get in trouble" Karin apologized as she protested to allowing Takeshi another drink.

"It'sh not for me, you crazy girl; it'sh for my friend and hish little companion" Takeshi scolded Karin, slightly slurring, before falling against his brother Takeo and began crying. "I missh my Okou-chan."

"Well you most certainly are _not_ honoring her memory by getting drunk, that's for sure" Kaoru scorned at Takeshi, though a small part of her wanted to grab him up and kiss him soundly except she hated the taste of sake.

Takeshi looked back at her sourly but remained silent as he ate his ramen; not even he dared to challenge a girl with Arashi on her shoulder.

"So, Karin-chan, what's it take to get you to go out on a date with me?" Atsushi asked seductively as he grabbed hold of the girl's kimono.

"For you to ask me in a more gentlemanly manner and not grab hold of my kimono like that" Karin replied firmly as she slapped his hand away before continuing on to tend to new customers.

"Next time, try asking her a bit more formally; she sounded interested, but was upset with your way of asking her" Kaoru lightly scrutinized before returning to eat her ramen noodles.

"So how come we haven't heard from you in such a long time, Rikiya?" inquired Eri so as to change the subject.

"I caught a chill from that rainy night where we were on guard duty and developed a fever. Kaoru has been taking care of me, Arashi, and Raiden while I was sick. She even, get this, convinced Raiden to let her ride him to the isha's office" Rikiya answered and all of the men turned to look at Kaoru in amazement.

"Never underestimate the power of a woman" Atsushi said as he gazed at the new girl in wonderment.

"So you say Arashi saved Kaoru from the executioner; why would Arashi wish to help her and for that matter, why was she sent to be executed at all?" Eri inquired suspiciously.

"If I may answer that question myself, Rikiya-sama?" Kaoru requested and Rikiya nodded his head in agreement. "I saw someone trying to pitch rocks at Arashi-ue while on the street and stopped him from continuing; it is my guess that by saving me he felt he was returning the favor. As for why I was sentenced to die, is because I struck a man who was trying to turn me into a sex slave when I wanted no part of it."

"I thought that law was abolished for its sheer stupidity?" Hyosuke asked in confusion.

"It was, but it wasn't done away with until the day after Kaoru-chan was scheduled to die" Rikiya informed them and all nodded their heads in acknowledgement while sending Kaoru sympathetic looks.

"Well I know who you're out honoring during the Bon festival, Rikiya-kun, but what about you, Kaoru-chan?" Hyosuke inquired in curiosity.

"I don't really remember anyone specifically, I'm mostly just keeping Rikiya company" Kaoru replied with uncertainty as she didn't wish to reveal too much information for fear of being found out.

Just then Momo and Omiya entered the ramen shop and spotted the boys sitting at their usual table in one corner of the restaurant and excitedly approached them.

"Ohayo gozaimasu" the girls happily greeted the warriors until they realized that the one sitting beside Rikiya was a girl, and Momo's smile faded while Omiya's turned into curiosity.

"Ohayo, girls, it's good to see you; would you care to join us?" Eri welcomed them wholeheartedly, smiling especially brightly to Omiya.

"Hai; so who's your new friend?" Momo asked with a hint of jealousy in her voice.

Noting the tone in her voice, Rikiya replied, "This is Kaoru, she's Arashi's friend."

Kaoru refused to meet the girls' eyes as she kept her face low while finishing her ramen. She strongly wanted to embrace her friends and cry onto their shoulders, but she knew that if she were to do so, there was a high probability that she would be put to death.

"There, that's one who's suspect!" everyone heard a gruff man's voice and all turned around to notice the yoriki and a couple of his doshin entered and pulled a drunken man away to be dealt with properly outside the shop.

"Sumimasen for the excitement, but that guy's been negligent on paying his tab to the tavern owner for almost three months" Karin apologized as she approached the group, delivering the usual orders of ramen to Momo and Omiya as well as placing a few small pieces of chicken onto the table for Arashi to enjoy.

"Well, fortunately we all just got paid, so we'll pay out tabs off when we finish" Hyosuke replied with a smile as he placed his share of the bill onto the table.

"Gomen nasai, Rikiya-sama, but I need some air" Kaoru informed him with a quick bow before running outside and over to the side of the ramen shop where she began to draw a few deep breaths; she'd thought the men had come to take her away instead.

"Sumimasen, but I'm partially responsible for her; I'll see you later at the Bon Odori, Momo-chan" Rikiya excused himself from his companions, kissed Momo on the cheek, and disappeared out the door after placing his payment onto the table.

Arashi reached Kaoru first and leaped up onto her shoulder and began nuzzling her cheek and purring quite loudly to comfort the girl as she held onto a tree for support; hoping to comfort the girl with his affections.

"Are you alright; would you like me to take you home?" Rikiya inquired as he came up behind the girl and placed a friendly hand upon her empty shoulder as Arashi was upon her other one.

"Iie, you should stay and have fun with your friends, Rikiya-sama; Arashi can accompany me back" Okou replied as she turned to start off for home.

"I well know that Arashi is a highly feared and respected entity, but I'm still not going to let you leave alone; I'll come with you" Takeshi said as he exited out of the ramen shop and tried to approach the girl, but instead tripped over his own feet and stumbled onto the ground where he fell asleep instantly.

"Baka; Rikiya, go with them and make sure Arashi-ue and his pet get home safely" Momo said scornfully as she came up behind Rikiya and noticing the way the girl kept her eyes to the ground.

Hearing the heavy tone of jealousy that was now in Momo's voice, Rikiya silently nodded his head to her and soon the two of them left.

Halfway into their travel, Okou decided to start up a conversation, "Sumimasen, but I never knew Momo was the jealous type."

"Don't worry about it, I'll make it up to her later tonight" Rikiya replied gently.

"Does the stream that runs by the house connect up with the river?" Okou then inquired in wonderment.

"Hai, about two miles away from the house it connects up with the main river, why?" Rikiya replied in slight puzzlement.

"So I can at least share in Toro Nagashi without leaving home" Okou replied as she began to cross over the bridge to their home before turning to look back at Rikiya as he had paused at the one end of the bridge.

"You'll find an extra lantern boat in the unlocked chest in Raiden's stable" Rikiya informed her as he walked up to and kissed Okou on the forehead before leaving to return to the Bon Festival.

Okou entered the courtyard and began singing one of the few minyo that she knew and soon entered the house with Arashi following along after her. She soon exited back outside and went to Raiden's stable and began searching for the chest Rikiya had mentioned. She found it, a black lacquered chest, and opened it up to find a bright red fabric lining the interior and, with a little careful searching, found the lantern boat. She carried the boat inside and began cleaning it up, carefully removing the paper lantern shade, and began decorating it for the celebration of Toro Nagashi, where the spirits were led by the small lantern boats back to the other realm.

When she'd finished with this small chore, Okou noticed that it was starting to get dark outside and so went out to light four torches in the courtyard around which she began her own Bon Odori while singing one of the minyo once again until she tired.

Capping the torches so that they couldn't cause a fire, Okou then returned inside where she took her bath before turning in for the night; deciding to dispense with the dressing process since it was so warm at that time of the year.

Back in town, the festival was in full swing as people were partying, singing, playing music, dancing, and having a really good time. At one point, after sharing in the Bon Odori, Rikiya and Momo slipped away from the crowd and stopped by the river side where, in the light of a full moon, they kissed passionately as they held tightly to each other. Walking her home, Rikiya followed Momo into her house, which was empty save for her sister Kuri who was sound asleep, and entered the furoba together where Rikiya gave Momo a nice, sensual bath.

Wrapped up in a lightweight blanket Momo kissed Rikiya passionately some more until it was time for him to depart from her and to head for his own home.

Upon arrival, Rikiya went to check on Okou only to find her half in and half out of her futon and exposing some of herself. Turning to quickly look away, Rikiya accidentally smack his cheek on the doorframe and gave himself quite a bruise as he left to return to his own room.

Checking his new injury in the reflective blade of his zanbato, Rikiya gingerly touched the bruised cheek only to pull it away as he braced against the pain while quietly swearing, "Kuso!" He then went to his room and slid into his futon to sleep for the rest of the night.

Early the next morning, as Okou was up, dressed, and fixing their breakfast, she noticed the bruise on Rikiya's cheek as he entered the room and said, "Sumimasen, I didn't know Momo could get jealous enough to punch you in the face like that."

"Hai, but at least she forgave me after I kissed her in the moonlight" Rikiya replied as he didn't want to explain to her what had really happened.

"I suppose you'll be staying out later tonight for Toro Nagashi" Okou then said as she served their breakfast.

Rikiya quietly nodded his head as he began to eat his breakfast and they finished the rest of their meal in silence.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright on your own today, Okou-chan?" Rikiya inquired as he made ready to leave.

"Oh sure, I have Arashi and Raiden to keep me company" Okou replied with a smile as she waved sayonara to Rikiya as he left for the rest of the festival.

Finishing with most of her chores early, Okou decided to throw caution to the wind and lay out in the noon time sun to soak up the sun's rays as she lay down on the floor with nothing on. She lay there until the old clock in the other room chimed and then turned over onto her stomach to let the rest of the day's sunlight hit her.

At the next sound of the clock's chime, she rose up, dressed, and went to the daidokoro to prepare hers and Arashi's dinner before sharing in her own personal Bon Odori celebration until the sun finished setting. Returning inside, Okou pulled out the small lantern boat and affixed the shade over the lantern; she'd light it and send it down the stream at the morning's first light.

Early the next morning, right after an early breakfast, Okou went to the stream with the small boat in hand and, carefully lighting the candle, sent the little boat on its way down the stream as part of celebrating Toro Nagashi.

Back in town, many people gathered at the river's edge to also set small lantern boats adrift down the river. As the friends gathered together, they watched as Karin walked up with a small lantern boat in her hand to be placed into the river.

"To whom are you paying respects to, Karin-chan?" inquired Momo as she came up to stand beside her friend.

"My mother; she died a few years back in a raging river; I can still see it as though it were only yesterday. We were heading to my obaachan's house when it began pouring one night. The next morning, we came upon a river that was running so wild that it knocked out the bridge that crossed it. My parents were discussing which they should do: go back or try to cross the river anyways. My mom won out the argument and we proceeded anyways.

"Dad was the strongest swimmer of us so he took a really long stretch of rope and tied it to a tree on one side of the river and dove in to swim across to the other side. I never thought he'd make it, but he did. Rigging a rope swing together, he sent it back across the river and I was placed into it first; it scared me half to death going through all of that, but finally, I made it across. Next was supposed to be Makoto's, my ototo, turn but he was so terrified that he refused to cross without mom. Setting herself up in the swing, mom picked up Makoto and began to cross, but the rope wasn't designed to hold that much weight.

"The rope began to pop and fray as it began coming apart before breaking. She grabbed hold of the rope and started to pull herself in with all of her might; she reached on point where in she tried to pass Makoto to us, but dad had to hold onto one of my hands while I stretched out into the water to retrieve my ototo. As soon as I had him, my mother looked up into my eyes and mouthed, 'Take care of your baby brother for me;' her strength gave out and she was swept down river" Karin told us as she broke out crying from the horrible memory and Atsushi took her into his arms to hold fast to her comfortingly. "If we'd only stayed on the one side, she'd still be alive!"

"Here, Karin-chan; let me launch your boat for you" Momo gently told her friend as she took the small boat into her hands and set it adrift in the river.

Rikiya had already sent two down the river, one with his sister's and parent's names on it and the other with the Matsubara family's names on it.

"I know it sounds silly, but ever since I was a little girl, I've always enjoyed following the boats as far as I could" Omiya told her friends as she set her boat adrift and began to chase after it from the shore while Takeshi set one of his own with Okou's name on it adrift.

As Omiya took off, two men began to pursue her. Seeing this, Eri picked up a large star-shaped shuriken and threw it at the men, taking off the heads of both men so that they dropped into the river.

"I didn't know you were planning on taking up the Giant Star-shuriken, Eri-kun" Rikiya said as he applauded his friend's efforts as he caught the large weapon.

"Hai, well, I was getting tired of the simple bow-and-arrow and thought to try something a bit different. Besides, no one messes with my favorite little Oedo Chakichaki Musume and gets away with it" Eri replied sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head with one hand as he and Rikiya shoved the men's bodies into the river with their feet.

While unaware of what had happened and following after the little boats, Omiya noticed two of the boats collide and sink: one was the one to the Matsubara family sent by Rikiya and the other was Takeshi's which held Okou's name on it. Meanwhile, another boat came out of the stream where it joined with the river and also had the Matsubara family names on it.

Omiya turned and began to speedily run back to her friends and called them to meet in a quite area away from the rest of the towns' people to share her bit of news.

"Now I know you're all probably thinking I'm crazy, but I truly believe Okou to be alive and she's somewhere upstream" Omiya told them all firmly after filling them in on what she had witnessed.

"It's alright, Omiya, we believe you, but you yourself have said that you saw them come to take Okou away to be executed" Eri reminded his girlfriend as he placed a comforting arm around Omiya's shoulder.

"Could it be that they decided to release her as long as she stayed away from town?" questioned Momo aloud as she pondered the possibilities.

"Iie, know Rikiya, he was planning on releasing that boat later tonight as a way of insuring that the Matsubara's found their way back to the other side" Eri replied, half in jest and half serious.

"Are you sure you read the lantern shade correctly; you could have misread and mistaken the writing to say Matsubara but it really said something quite different" Rikiya suggested, hoping that everyone would fall for his hypothesis.

"True, we have all been mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted by the loss of the Matsubara's that anything could look like one thing but be another. Take that Kaoru girl who came to our ramen shop with Rikiya for example; I just barely saw her face, but based on all of your descriptions of her, I could have sworn she was your deceased friend" Karin added trying to be helpful.

"I suppose it's possible, but I could have sworn I saw the lantern's shade correctly" Omiya replied feeling crestfallen as she had hoped that their very good friend was still alive even though they all knew it was impossible.

"Besides, Kaoru's hair was longer than Okou's and her complexion was a bit darker" Momo added so as to clear any small hopes of Omiya's being correct from her mind.

As they all began to part ways, Atsushi stopped Karin's leaving and took her hand to pull her behind a wide tree with him as he asked, "Karin-chan, would you do me the honor of being my girl?"

"Hai, I'd be honored to be your girl, Atsushi-kun" Karin replied with a smile as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek.

Suddenly, a call of 'Fire' went up and many began to run to the sight to offer what little aid they could.

"Sumimasen, Atsushi-kun, but I've got to join Momo and Omiya in putting out the fire" Karin told her new boyfriend before transforming into her super-heroine clothes and joined her friends in putting out the fire that was slowly crawling its way up the yagura.

"Sugoi, I think I love my Karin-chan even more than before, if that's even possible" Atsushi said aloud to no one before joining his teammates in finding the arsonist.

As the three girls were pouring water over the flames from above and the fire patrol pumping water onto the flames from below, Rikiya and Eri soon came forward with the guilty party, after being informed of the guilty party by Karin who had spotted the man, the same man who had been negligent on paying his tab at the tavern but had escaped from the yoriki and his doshin, running from the sight.

"You know the punishment for arson" the yoriki announced as he and his doshin took the man away to an open field and tied him to a stake.

"Hold up a moment; I'm not going to have you polluting the air in town with the smell of burning flesh" the shogun announced as he approached the yoriki.

"Then what do you suggest we do with the prisoner, Shogun-sama?" requested the yoriki and all turned to notice the angry look in Rikiya's eyes.

Five minutes later, and Rikiya walked back to the river to rinse the blood off of his sword before returning the large weapon to its sheath.

As they were gathered together back in Karin's ramen shop for lunch, Atsushi told his friends of what he had learned about Karin.

"Hai, so are Momo and Omiya; didn't you know that?" Eri inquired innocently.

"Iie, I didn't, but I think I love my Karin-chan even more now that I knew she's a little fighter" Atsushi replied with a smile as he and the others burst out laughing.

Rikiya returned home after kissing Momo sayonara and was happily greeted by Okou as he came upon the bridge. Kissing her on the forehead, Rikiya then informed her of what all had happened during Toro Nagashi and comforted her in letting her know that no one was the wiser to her still being alive.

**Alright, so I see a few confused faces in the audience so I'll explain the two festivals. The Bon Festival is a Buddhist celebration of the deceased where many return to their homelands to clean up and prepare the family shrines for the returning spirits of their lost loved ones. During this time, minyo (folk songs) are sung and people dance the Bon Odori (Bon Dance) in varying patterns and styles, many of which are to symbolize the movements of the winds and tides during the summer month of July. The celebration, occurring at different intervals over the years and areas, usually now runs from July 13 through 16 so as to cover all areas.**

**The Toro Nagashi immediately follows the Bon Celebration as this is believed to be the time where the visiting spirits return to the other side, usually believed to be out at sea, and the practice of using small boats with candle lanterns are set adrift down streams and rivers so as to guide the spirits back to the sea. Mind you all of this information can be found on Wikipedia and in some of the books mentioned in the bibliography I provided you back in chapter 1.**

**Now, if you all have the time and would like to leave me any further ideas, please take this opportunity to leave me a review and I will be most honored to read them.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Arigato to all who have reviewed and I look forward to any and all future reviews. And now I present to you all:**

**Chapter 6**

Another month had flown by without event and now it was almost time the Tanabata and Okou was diligently working on making writing her wishes out on paper as part of the festival's custom. Girls usually wished for better sewing skills and craftsmanship while boys usually wished for better writing and study skills, but for Okou there was only one wish: to find a way to rejoin society as her real self.

"Are you about ready to head to the festival, Okou-chan?" Rikiya asked as he entered the room wearing his yukata and buster sword.

"Hai, I'm all set" Okou replied eagerly as she picked up her wish and began to follow after Rikiya out the door, with Arashi on her shoulder; it seemed his favorite place to be.

They rode out on the back of Raiden and tied him up once they arrived in the village. The trio then headed for one of the tall bamboo stalks and placed their wishes upon it while smiling to one another.

Karin and Atsushi soon passed by together, heading off on a date, and paused to add their wishes to the others. The young couple then, laughing and smiling, walked away to the local food stalls to purchase some nikuman, Castella, and taiyaki for their date.

Meanwhile, Omiya was passing by and stopped to leave her own wishes on some of the bamboo when she noticed the one next to Rikiya's and began to read it. Omiya paused after reading it and began to re-read it even more carefully the second time when she noticed the name on the paper. Snatching the paper down, Omiya began to run off to find and gather all of her friends together to discuss her discovery.

Stopping first to whisper into Momo's ear as she was trying to dissuade the attentions of one of the townsmen, Momo turned around and told the man, "Sumimasen, but this is something important" as she took off running after her friend.

"You wouldn't want to pursue that girl anyways; she's Udetsuyoi's girl" an elderly man told the other and he nodded his head in acceptance to try and find another girl.

Omiya ran and informed Takeshi, Takeo, and Hyosuke that she was calling together an important meeting near the side gate and quickly took off running again as the boys looked at one another in confusion before heading over to the side gate per Omiya's request.

Now approaching Eri, she quickly gave him a peck on the lips before rapidly telling him that she wanted all of them to gather at the village's side gate and he nodded his head to her as they took off running towards the gate.

Momo, meanwhile, was telling Rikiya and Kaoru that Omiya wanted them all to meet up at the village's side gate and so the three of them all took off running for the gate where there friends had already gathered while waiting for Omiya to join them.

"This had better be good, Omiya; Atsushi were about to go on a picnic" Karin said sternly as Omiya was catching her breath.

"Take a look at this" Omiya managed to get out while breathing heavily and quickly passed the note around to her friends.

Taking the piece of paper from Omiya in annoyance, Karin read the paper before passing it to Atsushi as she inquired, "Okay, so what does this have to do with anything? And it's considered bad luck to take and read the wishes that are left for the gods to read."

"I know, but look at the name that's on the paper" Omiya replied in earnest as she watched the paper be passed over to Takeshi.

"This means nothing; do you know how many girls named Okou there are in this village?" Takeshi said in confusion.

"But how many possible Okou's are there that would wish to rejoin society as there real self?" Omiya replied, hoping to get the others to see in the note what she saw in it.

"Look, Omiya, I understand that you wish to see Okou return to us from beyond, but let's face facts, we saw them take her away to be executed" Momo replied in a gentle voice as she tried to hold back the pain that her friend was rehashing.

"And I'm telling you that she's alive! First was the lantern boat from the Bon festival and now this; it's no coincidence" Omiya replied stubbornly in a convinced voice.

"And if you don't cease and desist on this obnoxious behavior and continue insisting that a dead person is alive, people will start thinking that you've lost your mind" Hyosuke replied in a firm warning.

"Alright, fine, I'll admit that we saw get taken away, but we didn't see her die, so for all we know somehow, some way, she managed to escape; maybe she was sent into exile from the village instead and only returns in disguise to try taking part in the festivals" Omiya proclaimed in desperation as she refused to give up all hope of seeing her friend alive again.

"But Omiya-chan, if she were to be seen in the village after being exiled, she'd be immediately put to death; so why would she chance being seen just to hang up this one small piece of paper?" Eri inquired gently as he wanted to provide her with some kind of backing even if he didn't' think it possible for Okou to still be alive.

"Rikiya, Kaoru, you two have been the most quiet in this discussion all this time; what are you feelings on the matter?" asked Takeo as he passed the paper on to Kaoru.

"I don't really know what to say on the matter" Kaoru replied as she passed the paper on to Rikiya without reading it since in reality she was the one who wrote it.

"I must admit that I find myself torn by the arguments presented; on the one side I would wish to side with Omiya on the issue that none of us were there to watch Okou be put to death, but at the same time I must also admit that we weren't informed of what happened to her one way or the other. Is Okou alive and trying to reach out to us while avoiding the public view or is she dead and this all be a mere misinterpretation on behalf of those who can't accept the fact that their dear friend has passed into the next realm? I'm baffled as to which side of the argument has the strongest support" Rikiya replied truthfully as he passed the paper back to Omiya. "In the meantime, why don't you return this to where you found it in the even it does belong to someone else?"

"Hai, Rikiya-sama" Omiya answered in defeat as she trotted off to the bamboo trees where she found the note.

"Rikiya-kun, do you really believe that there is some chance of Okou's being alive?" inquired Momo with a small amount of hope in her voice.

"I don't really know, I mean, anything's possible and stranger things have been known to happen" Rikiya replied with a sigh as he watched their friend slowly returning with tears running down her cheeks.

Meeting Omiya halfway, they all embraced her and offered what words of comfort they could before heading off for their own destinations as Eri took her to get some Castella.

As Okou sat silently with Rikiya in the shade of a cherry tree when she decided to ask him, "Do you think you could get me a private audience with the shogun, Rikiya-kun?"

"I can ask, but why do you wish to speak with him?" Rikiya asked of her in surprise.

"I want to find out what the rules are of a person like me re-entering society so as to make all of my friends happy again. It killed me inside to see Omiya in that state and crying like that" Okou replied as she wiped away a few stray tears of her own.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do to help" Rikiya replied as he pulled Okou into a hug.

A few days later, Rikiya kept his promise to Okou but the shogun couldn't arrange a private audience with her until almost the end of the year, so she would have to wait. Unfortunately, Omiya couldn't and so began to secretly search for her lost friend single-handedly.

Omiya announced her intentions to her friends one day while they were meeting up at Shiimasutou's ramen shop, "I know you all think I'm crazy, but I will not stop until I have proof of what happened to Okou one way or the other! If she's alive, I'll bring her back; if she's dead…I'll bring back the location of her final resting place."

"But Omiya, your place is here with us to help watch over all of Edo" Momo told her as though pleading her not to go.

"Sumimasen, but if I don't find out what happened to Okou, I'll go nekkyo" Omiya replied solemnly before she ran off down the path to Rikiya's home, thinking to check upstream of his property first.

"Great, we're down one member again!" Momo shouted angrily as she kicked a rock with her foot and sent it rocketing into the river.

"Take it easy, Momo-chan; we're not scheduled to go another patrol until the start of the harvest season" Rikiya said comfortingly to his friend as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. "You'd best go with her, Eri-kun, just in case she gets into trouble."

Eri quickly nodded his head in agreement and chased after Omiya, catching up to her just as she reached to main gate and both left off into the wilderness to find Okou, unaware that the whole time, she was standing right there with them.

"Doesn't she realize that she's only chasing the wind and can never hope to catch it?" Hyosuke asked as he shook his head.

"Perhaps, but is there anything wrong with pursuing the answers to questions just beyond our reach; if we stay focused on such goals, then we will achieve them" Takeshi replied to his brother, hoping that Omiya would find and return with the answer to their question of what had happened to Okou.

"Well, the harvest is almost upon us, so maybe she'll come to her senses long enough to help us patrol and monitor the fields for signs of trouble" offered Takeo as he was watching some young girls across the street playing.

"We had better report in to the shogun to see when he'll need us to run those patrols then" Rikiya instructed everyone and they all rose up to proceed to the shogun's palace, even Kaoru.

As all entered and were shown to the shogun's main audience chamber where upon all knelt, save for Kaoru who prostrated herself since she held no standing other than that of servant to Rikiya.

"Sumimasen for disturbing your afternoon, Mayer-sama, but we have come to learn of when you intend us to begin patrolling the harvest" Rikiya inquired respectfully as he bowed all bowed their heads to the shogun.

"The harvest will begin in the morning after the next full moon. But what's this; you are two members short?" the shogun replied and soon noticed that two of his town's guardians were missing.

"They have gone in search of a lost friend in hopes of learning the truth behind what became of them" Rikiya explained simply as he did not wish to give any further information than was necessary.

"I see…and who is this young maiden who prostrates herself before me while at your side?" the shogun asked with curiosity as he stared down at Kaoru. "Come now child, speak up so that I may know the reason for your being here."

"Your honor, my name is Kaoru and I am Rikiya's servant girl. My reason for being here is to seek the answer to a question as well as being Arashi-ue's transportation" Kaoru said as she kept her head and eyes low while mentioning the fact that Arashi was sitting on her back; he was the only one not to bow before the shogun.

"Really; then ask this question as you intrigue me" noted the shogun almost lustfully as he stared down at Kaoru.

"Hypothetically speaking: If a person who is sentenced to die is spared by a deity and sent into the service of one he has found favor in and after a period of redemption this one decides to return to society, must they be put to death or may they continue living as themselves?" Kaoru posed her question as carefully as possible.

"So you want to know if a person who is slated to die manages to walk away, can they return to their normal life at a later point in time or must they die anyways; am I correct?" the shogun asked to see if he understood the terms of Kaoru's question.

"Hai" Kaoru replied, careful not to show any fear.

"Depends on the crime they committed; can you give me a hypothetical condition?" replied the shogun in earnest.

"Sir, she had a friend, who was sentenced to die for striking a man under the old law and was sentenced to die, but there isn't any record of this one actually dying nor is there a body to be found. Thus the question becomes, what if for some reason this person was able to walk away alive and may possibly be living somewhere else?" Rikiya explained on Kaoru's behalf as she knew not how to further her explanation.

"It is my single most regret to have allowed a similar girl to be put to death for such a thing; if this person is found alive and brought before me, I will grant this person a full pardon, but they must do so before the start of the New Year" the shogun replied before dismissing them to return to their homes.

Outside and away from the shogun's castle, Momo turned and said firmly to Kaoru, "I think you've been listening to Omiya entirely too much; you're starting to believe that Okou's still alive, too even, though we all know that she's dead!"

"There is more to this world than we can truly ever hope to comprehend, Momo-chan, so maybe there is a small, albeit improbable, chance that Okou is still out there, alive and well but living in fear of her life every waking moment of her continued existence until such time as we can bring her the comfort she seeks and needs" Takeshi noted as they all walked to the center of town and soon parted ways to return to their homes.

"Takeshi doesn't know how right he is" Okou commented as she and Rikiya crossed the bridge home.

"I know, but you heard what Shogun Mayer said; approach him before the New Year and reveal yourself to him and he will grant you a full pardon." Rikiya replied comfortingly as they headed for the furoba to take their baths.

About a month later the harvest began and the two teams were summoned together to watch over the farms while the harvest was being undertaken; Okou remained home so as to keep out of the way while performing her chores.

At one point, Okou gazed out her window to see Omiya as she was precariously perching on a thin branch that overhung the river while searching for clues to her friend's whereabouts. Eri, however, was not with her as he had been called back to watch over the harvest.

Watching her very carefully, Okou saw the branch snap and Omiya plummeted into the water! Running out the door, Okou ran to the stream's edge and tried to chase after her friend, who couldn't swim, but the water was moving entirely too quickly.

"I hate to do this, but…" Okou said aloud as she watched her friend's head dip under the surface of the water and transformed into her Oedo Chakichaki Musume uniform and flew off after Omiya.

Zipping along speedily, Okou saw Omiya's body surface and quickly dove down to take a hold of her unconscious friend's arm and pulled her to shore. After listening to Omiya's chest for a heartbeat, Okou hefted her friend up and drug her back to the house.

At one point while being carried along, Omiya briefly awoke to see Okou carrying her, but just as quickly slipped back into unconsciousness.

Okou laid her friend down on the floor of her room and reverted back to her normal form and began to undress Omiya before running to grab some towels to dry the girl off with. Predominantly dried, Okou then began to wrap Omiya up in a blanket before calling Arashi over to watch over the sleeping girl while she went to hang Omiya's clothes out to dry and to make some tea.

When Okou returned to her room Omiya soon awoke with a sneeze and began coughing water out of her lungs while Arashi and Okou rubbed her back gently.

"I may have been hallucinating, Kaoru, but I thought I saw my best friend and teammate carrying me at some point" Omiya told her friend before turning away to have a much needed cry.

"Perhaps Rikiya is right; it's time I stopped hiding and come out into the open" Okou replied softly.

"Nani are you talking about?" Omiya asked as she managed to stop crying long enough.

"Come with me to the furoba and get warmed up in the o-furo; I'll explain while we're in there" Okou replied as she helped her friend up and led her to the furoba.

As Omiya squatted down upon a bathing stool, Okou began to wash her friend up; which required her to get undressed as well. After rinsing Omiya off and helping her to get into the o-furo, Okou turned away and bent down to pick up the washbowl so as to return it to its rightful place when Omiya noticed the birthmark on Okou's right hip cheek: a pink star.

Omiya gasped in total surprise as she stared at the mark and clasped her hands over her mouth in astonishment before she found her voice and asked, "Kaoru, are you really Matsubara Okou?"

Silently nodding her head, Okou returned to sit on the edge of the o-furo as she confessed everything to Omiya, "And so now I go by Kaoru whenever I have to go to town with Rikiya so as to protect myself from any who should wish to amend the yoriki's decision of not killing me."

"But you heard what the shogun said, if you reveal yourself to him, he will grant you a full pardon" Omiya told her friend who was now inside the o-furo and letting Omiya lean up against her for comfort.

"Hai, but I have to wait until just before the New Year according to custom" Okou replied as they climbed out of the water and returned to Okou's room where they decided to lay down together on the futon to share their warmth and to get some rest with Okou wrapping her arms around her good friend.

"So until then, I must continue referring to you as Kaoru; I will protect your secret Okou-chan, I promise" Omiya replied as she drifted off to sleep while in her friend's arms.

**Okay, so the holiday of Tanabata is as described above, but doesn't apply to children only. For even more information on the holiday and of its present day form, you can look it up on Wikipedia.**

**Much more to come, still, so stay tuned and, onegai, review!**

**Happy and safe holidays, everyone!  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Arigato for the nice reviews everyone. And now, before we begin, a small warning: There will be two character deaths in this chapter; one a friend whom, if you have been with this story from the start, you may cry over; the other only makes their appearance in this one chapter and so we won't miss this one. So, if you all have your tissues handy, I present to you all:**

**Chapter 7**

Omiya returned to her friends the next day and reported to them the majority of what had happened, but kept her word about not letting anyone know just exactly who it was that rescued her from the swift running stream.

Eri kept his arms bound around her tightly as Karin said, "Well, I'm just happy to see you're still alive and able to tell us about your venture, but if you don't mind my saying so…STAY WITH THE TEAM FROM NOW ON!"

"Daijobu, daijobu, daijobu, you don't have to be so sassy, Karin-chan; I get the message" Omiya replied as Eri pulled her into his lap to hold her even closer; he thought for sure she had join Okou on the other side.

"It is good to have you back with us, Omiya-chan. But now on to other things; as you all know, the harvest has been completed without any mishaps or losses and Toshi no Ichi will soon be upon us followed by Omioska" Rikiya announced as everyone came to understand that the current year was almost over; Kaoru was paying extra close attention as she understood her time to reveal herself to the shogun was getting shorter and shorter.

"I guess we'll be seeing less of each other for a while then" Momo said with a sigh as she had wanted to spend more time with Rikiya.

"Eri, would you mind seeing me home after the meeting?" Omiya asked of her boyfriend.

"Just try and stop me" Eri replied with a grin as he kissed her on the lips.

"And we have to help with changing the shoji screens and other heavy work" added in Hyosuke as he rose up from his seat along with his brothers in preparation for leaving.

Soon everyone had risen from their places and heading off for their homes.

Okou, riding sidesaddle in front of Rikiya, turned to ask him, "When would be an appropriate time to show myself to the shogun?"

"Whenever you wish, though if you'd like it to be in keeping with Toshi no Ichi or even Omioska, then I would try to hold out until the last week of the year" Rikiya replied with a smile to Okou.

"Sounds logical to me; but in the meantime, we need to get the cleaning and decorating done" Okou replied excitedly as they arrived home and headed for their beds.

The next morning, December 13, and they immediately got to work with the house was given a thorough cleaning; the shoji screens were replaced, the laundry was washed, the o-furo was emptied and everything in the furoba scrubbed down, the futons and tatami mats were set up outside to air out, and even Rikiya's armor was given a good cleaning.

After the cleaning, came the decorating. The shimenawa with its dangling shide was hung over the front door to prevent evil spirits from entering and to show the presence of the toshigami. The kadomatsu was also placed beside the entrance way. The toshidana altar was piled high with kagamimochi, sake, persimmons, and other foods in honor of the toshigami.

While on their way to the year end fair, Okou decided now was the best time to ask the shogun for a full pardon. However, what neither of them were aware of was that a large number of ronin had been hired to take her out before she could even reach the shogun's palace.

As Okou began to draw near to the castle, three samurai jumped out of the bushes to attack her. One threw a lasso around her and quickly bound her up while the other two drew forth their katanas. One of two drew back his sword and made ready to decapitate the girl when a giant star-shuriken came flying forward and took the man's arms off at the elbows!

Turning in surprise, the other swordsman quickly found himself cleaved in two by Rikiya's buster sword while the warrior holding Okou bound was run through from behind by Takeshi.

Dropping to one knee, Takeshi quickly untied Okou before pulling her into a tight hug as he whispered to her, "Okou-chan, my reason for living, I can't believe it's really you."

"Sumimasen for having to keep her identity from you for so long, but…" Rikiya trailed off as Takeshi knew the rest.

Suddenly three more samurai jumped out of the bushes with their swords drawn to take them out when three arrows shot out and struck all three ronin in the chest so that they fell dead.

"Come on, kyodai; release Okou-chan to enter the shogun's castle and reveal herself!" shouted Hyosuke as he joined the party with an arrow knocked back to begin firing once more.

Just as they were about to release Okou three large objects rolled into the area and all turned quickly to see three heads roll past them as Takeo walked out of the woods saying, "That takes care of those three."

"Daijobu, everyone, we'll accompany Okou-chan to the shogun's castle to protect her from further attackers" Rikiya commanded as they all turned and began running towards the gates of the castle.

Just as they were within a ten feet of the gates, they opened to release another twelve samurai all of whom quickly met their end as Takeshi, Takeo, Eri, and Rikiya swung their weapons down upon an easy eight while Hyosuke dispatched the last four with arrows.

Running through the halls of the castle, they were met at almost every turn by other samurai, all of whom were taken out with ease until they came upon the shogun's throne room where the men were quickly separated from Okou, who had entered first, by a thick iron-barred gate.

"I didn't want it to come to this, Okou, but with your persistence I am left with no other choice. You may die in one of two ways: the first is seppuku, which will leave you with your honor intact; the other is to die at the sword of one of these men" announced the shogun as he stared down at Okou in annoyance.

"But you promised that if I revealed myself to you that you'd grant me a full pardon" Okou reminded him with anger in her eyes.

"I don't recall ever saying that; these are you choices, so choose wisely" replied the shogun with a bold-faced lie.

A tanto was passed to Okou for her to make her choice when suddenly a voice rang out through the throne room, "LIAR!"

All turned to see Bellum-san enter the room with the scroll that the shogun had signed that showed the true agreement that what Okou had said was true and the shogun was trying to get out of it dishonestly as she threw it to the floor. One of the men present picked up the scroll and began to read it aloud to his companions.

"Fine, but you only have one minute to prove yourself; if you do not do so within that time, you die" the shogun pronounced as though already in victory.

Okou smiled to him and quickly transformed into her Oedo Chakichaki Musume uniform which caused all of those present to begin murmuring in surprise as they stared one of the very same girls who had helped to defeat the demon, Kare.

"Sumimasen, but you are too late" the shogun proclaimed as he took up a sword and began to approach Okou so as to kill her.

Knowing their duties, the other samurai refused to move to stop the shogun as he drew closer and closer to Okou when suddenly, out of nowhere, Arashi jumped down to land upon Okou's shoulder where he arched his back, laid back his ears, and hissed long and sharp. The shogun, an ailurophobe, paused to stare down at the large black feline in terror until he found his nerve and struck the animal with his sword.

"IIE!" rose up a large shout of disbelief as the large animal fell from Okou's shoulder, dead.

Looking down at her fallen friend, Okou began to shed tears of surprise and sadness as she scooped Arashi's body up into her arms with little care of the blood being soaked up by her uniform.

"And now it's your turn" the shogun said with an evil grin as he pulled back his sword to strike Okou down.

A mysterious thunderstorm was brewing outside and, as Arashi fell, the storm began to erupt into a full rage.

As the shogun raised his sword high above Okou's head, she closed her eyes, and a blast of lightning flew in through the open window and began to shoot electrical energy through the shogun's body as it stuck the tip of his raised sword; frying the man for about two minutes until it finally cut out.

The shogun was no more, but none cared about him as all surrounded Okou as she clutched Arashi's lifeless form to her chest as she quietly began sobbing.

"We should take him to the shrine of Susanoo-no-mikoto" murmured one man as he came up and placed a gentle hand upon Okou's shoulder.

All soon left out of the castle, turning just in time to watch as a massive cyclone grabbed hold of the building and ripped it all down before picking up and the storm dissipated.

"Iie, I want to take him home with us, Rikiya-sama so that he may join your family" Okou said despite the number of people trying to persuade her to follow to the shrine for the kami of the seas and storms.

Nodding his head in agreement, the two, along with their friends, headed for home where they dug a grave for the endeared feline. Okou then removed her uniform and, with little care that she was now virtually naked before all of those men, wrapped Arashi up in it to place him into his grave.

Standing back up as Rikiya and Takeshi came up behind her, she turned and began crying into Rikiya's shoulder as Arashi was covered over. Rikiya for his part could not hold back his own tears and even Raiden, having exited from his stable to see what was going on, bowed his head and showed signs of grief and mourning for the loss of Arashi.

Though allowed to join her friends once again, Okou remained with Rikiya until the end of the year to celebrate Omisoka. Together, they performed a general house cleaning to welcome coming year and not to keep having impure influences. After this was completed, they joined many other people as they visited the local Buddhist temple to hear the temple for joya no kane. The ringing of the temple bells 108 times was said to announce the passing of the old year and the coming of the new one as well as, according to the Buddhist belief, rid human beings of the 108 earthly desires or passions; with each ring one desire is dispelled.

From there they returned home to eat toshikoshi-soba in the hope that one's family fortunes will extend like the long noodles of the delectable dish. They then went and took a quiet bath together before heading for their rooms to sleep for the rest of the night.

Unlike before, it was Rikiya who would wake Okou the next morning as Arashi was no longer with them to remind her that it was her responsibility to make breakfast.

Okou was now free to come and go as she pleased, no longer having to hide herself from the villagers, but she remained with Rikiya as the surrogate little sister she had always been to Rikiya.

A few days later, Rikiya and Okou were silently walking in to the village when a woman carrying a basket approached them.

Removing the basket's lid, she inquired of them, "Can I interest such a fine young couple in three kittens; free to a good home!"

Peering into the basket, Okou carefully reached in and extracted the three kittens; one red, one blue, and one black. The black one climbed up her kimono's sleeve and perched himself on her shoulder and caused her to begin crying as she remembered the way Arashi had done the same.

"Arigato, we'll take all three" Rikiya replied as he took the small red on in his arms where it curled up and went to sleep in the crook of his arm.

Rikiya and Okou looked into one another's eyes and smiled, but when they turned back to speak with the woman who had given them the kittens, she had vanished.

"Rikiya-kun, we did just get these three little ones from some woman with a basket, didn't we?" Okou asked with a sniff while cradling the small blue one.

"I know this is going to sound crazy, but I got Arashi in the same manner and that woman, too, disappeared into thin air. Come on, let's go visit with our friends" Rikiya replied as he directed Okou on to Karin's place.

Karin wasn't working that morning, so she, Atsushi, Momo, Omiya, Eri, and Takeshi were all waiting upstairs in the ramen shop's living quarters waiting for Rikiya and Okou to join the group. Seeing Okou walk into the main room, Momo and Omiya instantly ran over to embrace their friend happily.

"Take it easy or you'll squish the little ones" Okou replied with a smile as she handed Momo the small red kitten and passed the blue on over to Omiya; both of whom took their kitten with large smiles on their faces.

"Oh, Okou; they are just so kawaii!" Omiya exclaimed as she snuggled her kitten to her cheek.

"Hai, where did you get them" Momo inquired as the kitten she was holding began to play with her long hair which she was wearing down for a change.

"Some mysterious woman came up with this basket and offered them to us free to a good home and when Rikiya and I agreed and took the kittens from the basket, she vanished into thin air" Okou replied while listening to the kitten on her shoulder purring contentedly.

"Hey, it looks as though someone went and shrunk…never mind" Karin started to say but stopped herself as she didn't wish to bring up the sad subject of Arashi.

"Like someone went and shrunk Arashi; hai, I agree" Rikiya replied without showing a bit of emotion other than happiness for the fact that Okou had found another shoulder-sitter.

"Hey, Rikiya, have you noticed any suspicious ronin wandering around here lately?" Takeshi inquired concernedly; with the death of the shogun, they should have all left.

"Iie, I haven't, why?" replied Rikiya now mirroring Takeshi's concern.

"Come to think of it, I saw the guy just yesterday; he keeps going around as though he's looking for someone" remarked Eri as he watched Omiya playing with her new kitten.

They soon heard a skirmish and an argument from down below in the ramen shop and paused to listen, "I told you, Karin isn't here!"

"Don't lie to me, old man, or I'll break the truth out of you; now where's Karin?" a strange voice was heard to reply when the men decided to go down to help out Karin's father.

"Is there something we can assist you with?" Takeshi asked forcefully as he displayed the swords on his sides.

"This doesn't concern you, now get lost" the ronin replied firmly.

"Actually, when it concerns my favorite ramen chef, it deeply concerns me as well" Rikiya replied as he showed the sword he was carrying.

"Daijobu, it's fine, I'll leave peacefully" the ronin replied as he decided it wasn't a good idea to challenge someone with a buster sword and left.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Eri inquired as he checked their friend's arm.

"That guy's a trouble-maker and once dated my little Karin back when she was rather young. He joined up with this one samurai troop but the majority of them were wiped out when they tried attacking this other troop; they say those who died were killed by a zanbato" Shiimasutou replied while sending Rikiya a smile.

"Daijobu, I'll alert the others to this baka's presence and have them keep an eye out for the guy" Takeshi stated as he left out to find his brothers.

"Atsushi, I'd really appreciate it if you were to stay with us until that guy can be brought to justice" Shiimasutou told Atsushi who nodded his head in agreement.

Soon it was time for the lunch crowd to start forming and so everyone left for their homes; Omiya with her little blue kitten and Momo with her red kitten while Okou refused to part with the one she had taken to referring to as Arashiko.

The next day they all met up at the ramen shop once again to discuss their findings on the ronin who was harassing Shiimasutou and looking for Karin, "His name is Ryutaro and Shiimasutou was right, we did fight the troop he was part of. However, as his name would indicate, he's a no good, trouble-maker ad a thief. According to what information the townspeople have gleaned from him, he's looking for Karin because she used to date him until he turned mean and abusive towards her and now is searching for her to ask for her to take him back" Hyosuke informed them.

"Son of the big dragon…fitting name for such a snake-in-the-grass" Atsushi replied with a growl.

Just then there was a crash and a bunch of people gasping in surprise as the same ronin had grabbed hold of Karin's wrist, causing her to drop the dishes she had been carrying.

"Let me go or I'll let you have it where it hurts the most" Karin growled at the man.

"Now is that any way to speak to your boyfriend" Ryutaro asked as he forcefully kissed her until she pushed him off of her.

Spitting with disgust, Karin shouted back, "You are NOT my boyfriend, baka; now get out of here before I call for help."

Ryutaro pulled back and was about to slap Karin until Atsushi grabbed hold of his wrist, stopping him while Karin ran out the door.

"Come back here, Karin-chan; I still own you!" called Ryutaro as he followed after her only to watch as she transformed into her Oedo Chakichaki Musume uniform and withdrew her two kendo swords to take him on.

"I warned you, get lost or I'll be forced to hurt you" Karin warned but Ryutaro only began laughing at her.

"And what do you plan on doing; giving me a splinter with your little toys?" inquired Ryutaro as he pulled out his own katana.

With lightning quick moves, Karin began to attack him for all she was worth while not letting him get a move in edgewise. His fury building, Ryutaro finally gave one strong swipe of his sword and cut a slash in the front of Karin's shirt and she became quite concerned of her situation.

"Hey, baka, remember me?" called out Rikiya as he approached and stuck the tip of his zanbato into the ground and catching Ryutaro completely off guard as Karin came up and slammed him in the back of his head.

Ryutaro fell silent and Rikiya recovered his blades from him, handing them over to Karin as the yoriki and his doshin came up to haul him away to the edge of town to dump him. Ryutaro would awaken a few hours later, but couldn't remember for the life of him who he was or where he was and so walked away in a stupor until he tripped and fell off of a cliff; an image of Karin's face overwhelmed his mind just before he died.

**Sumimasen for the sad part, but then this story is almost over. I do plan on doing another one at a later point in time, but not just yet as I have to finish this one, continue my cross-fiction entitled "From Here to Eternity: A Momoko Story" and get started on Season 5 of my series based fan-fiction. The holidays mentioned are also explained predominantly though you may also wish to research further matters by visiting Wikipedia for further descriptions to give you a better idea as to what's going on. More coming soon, so stay tuned!**

**It should also be noted that the character of Ryutaro is also known as Dai or Damion in Carly-chan's stories and I am only using him with her permission. And speaking of Carly-chan's stories, you should really check them out! You can find her under the name of cakedecorator by search; checking my favorite authors on my profile page; or checking my favorite stories, also on my profile page. I only ask that when you leave her a review that you be nice about it, Arigato.  
**


	8. Chapter 8

** Arigato for the wonderful reviews all; and now for the happy conclusion to this story.**

**Chapter 8**

Okou would often times be found sitting quietly in same areas of the house that Arashi usually enjoyed and always with Arashiko in her lap. Rikiya would come home from town one day and found her sitting in the sunlight as she absent-mindedly stroked the kitten's fur.

"Why did Arashi sacrifice himself like that Rikiya-kun? Why would he throw his own life away just to save me?" Okou asked in an almost whispered voice.

"Because he loved you; you were the one thing he had always found missing in his life after Ami died and he found it important to protect you with his life" Rikiya explained as he sat down beside her and pulled her head down to lean upon his shoulder as he wrapped one arm around her.

"But none of what he did ever made any sense. I was to die and he jumped up onto the post to claw at my bindings; he led me to his home through the woods when he had ever right to abandon me; he welcomed me into his home as though I were already a member of the family; he even comforted me whenever I needed it" Okou said as she clutched Arashiko to her chest.

"Arashi was his own cat; he did what he wanted, when he wanted, and went to whatever extremes to figure out how he was going to go about doing it. If memory serves correctly, you saved him from being pelted with stones by your brother, right?" Rikiya explained as best he could.

"Hai, but he rubbed up on me and thus saved me from a beating from my father so he had already repaid me for that" Okou told him, still without understanding.

"Iie, what saved you from that beating was superstition; everyone thought Arashi was one of the kami because of his sheer size, abnormal color, and the way he could sense the weather and so they revered him as a kami" Rikiya replied truthfully.

"You mean to tell me that Arashi was nothing more than a common, ordinary cat?" Okou asked in disbelief.

"Hai; but there again, his ways were just that, his. When he scratched at your bindings, he may have actually been trying to set you free, but at the same time, he could have been sharpening his claws or playing with the ropes" Rikiya tried to explain so as to convince Okou.

"Iie, I really believe he was trying to save me; he growled at the people when they weren't freeing me. And when he jumped down from my shoulder, he vocalized that he wanted me to follow after him and even continuing to do so as he led me through the woods" Okou replied firmly.

"Then he deemed you a kindred spirit and wanted to take care of you as he would a kitten; it is a great honor he bestowed upon you and you should be both happy" Rikiya said in finality as he rose up and headed for the daidokoro to prepare their dinner while leaving Okou and Arashiko to continue communing with one another.

Later, at dinner, as Okou and Rikiya sat quietly eating together, Okou asked, "Can a kami die?"

"I'm not really certain; I think they just join the spirit realm when they no longer have their home to dwell in, why?" Rikiya replied and asked in return.

"Then if Arashi truly were a kami then he's not really dead" Okou said as she stared down at the small black kitten sleeping in her lap.

"If on the outside chance he truly was a kami, then I will agree with that hypothesis, Okou-chan.

"I believe he was, otherwise, how else could the shogun have been struck down like that, he wasn't near a window or anything" Okou reasoned as she put on a light smile.

"Very true, I suppose, still though, Arashi never did anything to label him as a kami, but then, maybe he did things when no one was around to see" Rikiya replied and they soon went back to eating their dinner.

Early the next morning, everyone gathered together to welcome the new shogun: younger brother to the last one, but was deemed to be a much nicer person. As his transport approached, Rikiya, his comrades, and the Oedo Chakichaki Musume all bowed low to show their respect to the man as he stepped out, took a look around, and soon turned to assist his wife from exiting their transport.

"You must be Udetsuyoi-san, it is an honor to meet you in person; tales of your victories are spread throughout the great city. And you four have to be the honorable Oedo Chakichaki Musume, I have heard the grand story of how you all defeated the demon Kare; you must feel very proud of yourselves" noted the shogun as he greeted the warriors present, though ignoring them when they began to reply to him. "I will be setting up for the next few days or so, so if you all be kind enough to come back in one week, I'll have your new assignments ready for you."

At that they were dismissed to wander the streets of town until they came upon one of their favorite gathering places, the old tree just outside and to the side of Shiimasutou-san's ramen shop.

"So, Rikiya-kun, what are your thoughts regarding the new shogun?" asked Eri as he stood behind Omiya with his arms wrapped around her waist.

"I think it's too soon to make a judgment call as of yet, but I do get this sneaking suspicion that our next meeting with him isn't going to fare well" Rikiya replied with a sigh.

"Nani do you mean, Rikiya-chan; do you suspect something devious is going to befall us at our next conference with the shogun?" asked Momo in concern as she turned to face Rikiya and placed her hands upon his chest.

"Iie, nothing bad, but, well, did any of you notice the new weapons that were being carried by the shogun's bodyguards; I think we may soon be replaced by them" Rikiya replied and everyone stopped to ponder his words in concern.

"So have you ever considered what you would do when and if such a thing should arise?" Omiya inquired gently.

"I think I may become a schoolteacher" Eri replied with a genial smile.

"Hyosuke and I may become hired swords" Takeo replied in a feisty manner with his brother nodding his head from beside him.

"I may become a martial arts instructor" added Atsushi as Karin leaned her head down upon his shoulder.

"I'll probably become an instructor in swordsmanship" Takeshi proclaimed happily.

"In that case, I think I'll become a writer" added Rikiya before leaning down to kiss Momo on the cheek.

Come the end of the week, and the group returned to the shogun's castle and was shown to where the man stood in the back watching as some men were practicing the marksmanship with their guns.

"Remarkable, aren't they; and barely a miss" praised the shogun as he heard Rikiya and his companions approach and kneel behind him.

"Perhaps, but I've already counted ten misfires. One thing you don't need to worry about with swords" Rikiya replied truthfully though he kept his head low out of respect.

"Hai, but guns can take out many more of the enemy's men than a sword can and are much less cumbersome. But enough idle conversation; it's time we got down to business. Your services will no longer be required, but so that you don't leave entirely empty-handed, I am giving you all a small parting gift" the shogun proclaimed as ten female servants walked up and presented each of the heroes with a ten pound bag of rice before being sent on their way.

"And just like that, we are released to become ronin" Takeshi said in mild annoyance as they all walked over to Shiimasutou-san's Ramen Shop.

"Hai, well at least we were given two years advance pay for our send-off" Hyosuke noted, trying to look on the bright side of things.

"And just when I was beginning to have fun being an Oedo Chakichaki Musume too" groused Karin sadly.

"You're all forgetting; as ronin, we are what we are and no one may tell us different. You girls are the Oedo Chakichaki Musume and will always have that as part of you, much the same as we men are all samurai warriors" Rikiya told his friends before pausing to notice that the four girls were now standing in front of a shop and eyeing something in the window.

Turning back, Rikiya, Eri, Takeshi, and Atsushi peered over the girls' shoulders to see four beautiful rings on display. After a while of staring at the rings, the girls soon turned and left, without noticing that the boys hadn't followed them until they were already inside the ramen shop and sitting down to eat.

The boys soon entered the shop, apologizing while explaining that they had run into an old friend and stopped to chat for a couple of minutes.

Later that night, after Takeo and Hyosuke had left for home, the eight young lovers parted into four separate groups.

Eri took Omiya down to the river's side where, under the full moon, he proposed to her while presenting Omiya with the same sapphire ring she had been admiring earlier and she eagerly said, "Hai!"

Atsushi and Karin were walking along when he pulled her up under a tree and requested her hand in marriage as he presented her with an amethyst ring; the same one she had been admiring back in the shop's window. Wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him with tears in her eyes, Karin nodded her head that she would as she was unable to find her voice for sheer happiness.

Rikiya and Momo were standing on the bridge that crossed the pond on Momo's property, talking and occasionally kissing, when Rikiya pulled a ruby ring from his pocket and presented it to her as he asked for her to be his wife. Slipping the ring onto her finger to admire it in the moonlight, she turned and flung herself upon him as she began to passionately kiss him with tears of joy in her eyes as she repeatedly said, "HAI!"

Takeshi and Okou were walking through the new house that was being built where the old Matsubara home had once stood; the debris having long since been removed. Arashiko was purring quite loudly so as to comfort his girl as she sadly walked through the new home.

"I'm going to be honest with you, Okou-chan; I bought the property and am having this house built" Takeshi informed her and Okou turned to stare at him in disbelief. "I can only hope that you and Arashiko will agree to share it with me, with you as my beautiful bride."

"Do you really mean that, Takeshi-chan?" Okou asked in uncertainty.

"I've known you since you were just a small seedling, when you lost your family you were a mere bud waiting to open, and here you are now, a triumphant flower that has bloomed in the harshest of environments and I want to become a part of your life, Okou-chan; so onegai, will you marry me?" Takeshi replied wholeheartedly as he knelt down before her and presented her with the emerald ring she had admired earlier that day.

Okou bowed her head in silence, tears falling from her eyes, and soon looked up with a slight giggle as Arashiko had been shaking his head furiously from her tears dropping onto his head, and replied, "Hai, I will."

Takeshi embraced her with a big hug after moving Arashiko to Okou's shoulder and they kissed in the living room of their new home.

All families got together at a formal dinner to discuss and make arrangements for the wedding day; agreeing that June would be the perfect time for the occasion. After the dinner, yui-no gifts were exchanged.

Come the weekend of their weddings everyone was getting ready, each with the help of an attendant. Stripping down to their short-skirt underwear and tabi, the ladies were aided in getting into their wedding attire. Each girl was helped to put on an uchikake kimono, each one in the girls' individual colors, and an obi was wrapped around their waists and ornately tied in the back.

Their hair was then coifed in a bunkintakashimada and is adorned with beautiful kanzashi ornaments, combs and accessories before being covered with a tsunokakushi.

Their faces were covered with white powder, their eyes are outlined in a dark color, and their lips are painted bright red. Zori were placed up their feet and they were given a hakoseko and kaiken to carry as well as a fan placed into their obi.

The men were dressed in full-length kimono with hakama, tabi and zori.

Once dressed, the grooms walked down the aisle to await the bridal procession, which wouldn't take very long and all while ceremonial music was played on the flutes of the ga-ga-ku. As the brides joined with their grooms, their families all sat down, the brides' families on one side and the grooms' families on the opposite, and faced each other as per tradition.

A Shinto priest, dressed in kimono and hakama with an outer robe and a tall ceremonial hat, conducted the ceremony while holding his shaku, saying prayers, and purified the couples by waving his haraigushi.

The grooms then read the words of their commitments followed by the priest reading the wedding contract. The brides and grooms were then attended to by Miko maidens, serving sake in red and white dresses to begin the SanSanKudo ceremony.

The sake was poured into three special cups of different sizes for each couple. Using the smallest of the cups, the grooms took three sips, followed by the brides doing the same, and progressing to the medium and large cups.

At the end of the ceremony, the families drank a cup of sake to symbolize the unions of the brides and grooms as well as unification of their two families. At the close of the ceremony, symbolic offerings were given to the kami consisting of three small twigs from a sacred Sakaki tree and thus ended the ceremony.

After the ceremony, the couples welcomed their guests, consisting of their families, friends, and business associates, at the kekkon hiroen. The guests were seated according to their relationship with the couple; their names and table assignments provided at the reception table where they were asked to sign the guest book.

The welcome party also collected the monetary gifts which were laced into Shugibukuro with the guest's name written on the front of the envelope. The party began with an introduction of the bridegrooms, brides and their families' backgrounds.

The full-course meal was then served table-side followed with festivities. The festivities during the reception included participation by guests who contributed speeches and songs as well as playing games, and participating in skits; hikidemono were also distributed. After the festivities, everyone returned home.

Almost a year later, the couples gathered together once more to show off their newborns; Okou and Momo each had a handsome little boy while Omiya and Karin each had a lovely little girl.

Rikiya had indeed become a writer and had 2 books published; Eri succeeded in becoming a schoolteacher and loved by all of his students; Atsushi was hailed as one of the best martial arts instructors the town had ever seen; and Takeshi would also become a top instructor of swordsmanship.

Hyosuke and Takeo would fail at becoming hired swords but eventually found themselves lovely wives to settle down with and soon had families of their own.

Life for them would become predominantly peaceful after that and their families would remain strong for many generations to come.

**Okay, so there you have it. The couples are all happily married; they all have children of their own; and I am now inspired to write yet another Edo-era based story for my PPGZ Series continuations. I really do appreciate all of the fine reviews you all have left and I also thank all of you for the ones I am about to receive. Special thanks goes out to Carly-chan for sticking through with this all the way to the end, for the support you have given me through all of this, and also for the helpful suggestions you provided me to help me to get this grand endeavor accomplished. I hope to hear from all of you in my other stories, past, present, and future.**

**Oh, and yes, here are the definitions to the Japanese words used through this story:**

shiromuku - white kimono robe

montsuki - black formal kimono

haori - kimono jacket

hakama - kimono pants

tabi - short, white toe socks

zori - thong-like clogs

obi – a sash or belt worn by the bride

hakoseko – a small purse

kaiken – a small encased sword

yui-no – engagement

tsunokakushi – a white, veiled wedding hood

shaku – a black mace

haraigushi – purification wand

kekkon hiroen – reception

hikidemono – wedding mementos

**Arigato everyone!**

**P.S. The scenes with the boys proposing to the girls with rings is an additive of my own as, according to research, the concept of engagement and wedding rings is a modern introduction brought in by Western influences. - TCW  
**


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